Turkey Cupcakes

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These Turkey Cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes frosted with fun, colorful buttercream in the shape of a turkey! They are easier to make than they look and so festive for Fall and Thanksgiving!

Why You’ll Love These Turkey Cupcakes

Colorful, festive and adorable – what’s not to love?! These cupcakes are sure to get lots of “oohs” and “aahs” as you break them out to serve them. As a bonus, they taste great too!

• Fun and festive – These turkey cupcakes are perfect for this time of year. Right on theme! They’d be great for a kids party, Fall gathering or Thanksgiving.
• Delicious cupcakes – Cute AND tasty! These vanilla cupcakes are my homemade vanilla cupcakes with a touch more oil for extra moisture. So yummy!
• Easy to make – Not only is the cupcake easy to put together, but so is the decorating. You just need a few piping tips and a little patience to make some adorable turkeys. Check out the step-by-step pictures below for guidance.
• Customizable – I used a vanilla cupcake for the base, but you could easily switch it up with chocolate cupcakes, pumpkin cupcakes, or even cinnamon sugar swirl cupcakes.

What You’ll Need

These turkey cupcakes just require some pantry staples and a handful of decorating items and you’ll be on your way to some adorable cupcakes. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the measurements.

For the cupcakes

• All-purpose flour – Be sure to measure it accurately, so you don’t end up with dry cupcakes. I always recommend a food scale. Alternatively, you can use the spoon and level method.
• Baking powder – For rise and nice texture.
• Salt – To bring out flavor.
• Butter – Unsalted butter at room temperature is best. You could use salted butter, but you’d want to leave out some or all of the added salt.
• Vegetable oil – The combination of butter and oil gives the cupcakes great texture and moisture.
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs – You want large eggs, not medium or extra large.
• Milk – Whole milk or 2% milk.

For the buttercream

• Unsalted butter – This should be at room temperature so that everything combines well.
• Powdered sugar – The powdered sugar adds volume and stability to the buttercream. You can reduce the amount, but you may not end up with enough buttercream and it may not be stiff enough for piping.
• Vanilla extract
• Heavy whipping cream
• Salt – You don’t have to add salt, but it cuts down the sweetness a bit and adds flavor.
• Cocoa powder – I recommend natural unsweetened cocoa powder. A darker cocoa would be a little too dark here.
• Gel icing color – You’ll need 4 colors – yellow, orange, red and black. The gel colors are more concentrated, so you don’t need as much to get a deeper color.

For Decorating

• Two Wilton 104 tips – These are used for the red and orange “feathers”. You could get away with just one, but it’s convenient to have two and not have to wash between uses. Either way works though!
• Wilton 102 tip – The slightly smaller tip is for the yellow “feathers”. You’re working with less space, so the smaller tip is fits a little better.
• Ateco 808 tip – A large round tip is ideal for creating the turkey body.
• Wilton 4 tip and Wilton 5 tip – I used tip 4 for the eyes and tip 5 for the beak. You could use the same one for both, but I do like the difference in size, if you have them both handy.
• Piping bags – There are lots of options out there and you can usually find them in stores like Walmart, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I tend to use Wilton brand. I find that off brand bags on Amazon aren’t quite as sturdy.
• Couplers – Again, I tend to use Wilton, but you can certainly try another brand. You can usually find these in store.

How To Make Turkey Cupcakes

These cupcakes aren’t hard to make, but a visual always helps. Here’s some step-by-step photos of the process. You can find the printable version of the instructions in the recipe card below.

Make the cupcakes

• Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F and prep a cupcake pan with liners. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Combine wet ingredients: Beat the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until light in color and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until well combined after each.
• Add dry ingredients: Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined. Add the milk and mix until well combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth.

• Bake: Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Make the buttercream

• Combine buttercream ingredients: Beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of heavy cream and salt and mix until well combined and smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until well combined. Add additional heavy cream as needed to get the right consistency.
• Color the buttercream: Remove about 1 cup of buttercream and add to another bowl. Add the cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream mix until well combined. Divide the remaining vanilla buttercream between three bowls. Color the largest amount of frosting red, the smallest amount yellow and the other frosting should be orange.
• Prep for decorating: Add the red and orange frosting to a piping bag fitted with the Wilton 104 tip and add the yellow frosting to a piping bag fitted with the Wilton 102 tip.

Decorate the cupcakes

• Add red feathers: Start with the red “feathers” around the outside of the cupcake. The larger end of the piping tip should be almost touching the cupcake, but not quite. Create the ruffle “feathers” by moving the piping tip towards the outside of the cupcake, then towards the center in small up/down movements that create a ruffle or wave-like design around the outer edge.

• Add orange and yellow feathers: Repeat the same step with the orange and then the yellow, moving inward for each color so that you can see the one behind it.

• Make the turkey body: Add the chocolate buttercream to a piping bag fitted with the Ateco 808 tip, or another large round piping tip. Pipe one continuous body and head. You’ll add a little more pressure for the large part of the body to make it larger.
• Make the turkey face: Add a little bit of leftover chocolate buttercream to a small bowl and color it with black gel icing color. Add the black frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip, I used Wilton tip 4, and pipe on the eyes. Add some of the remaining orange frosting to a piping bag fitted with another small round tip, I used Wilton tip 5, and pipe on a little triangle for the beak.

Tips For Success

• Measure flour carefully. Too much flour will result in a dry cupcake. To measure accurately, I recommend using a food scale, but you can also use the spoon and level method if you don’t have one. Read more about measuring flour accurately here.
• Don’t skimp on creaming time. When creaming together the butter, oil and sugar, do so until the mixture has significantly lightened in color and become fluffy. This process incorporates air into the batter which helps prevent an overly dense cupcake.
• Buttercream consistency. The buttercream uses 5 ½ cups of powdered sugar. You can add less powdered sugar to the frosting so that there isn’t so much sugar, but you won’t end up with as much frosting and it won’t be as thick. You need it thick enough for the piping to stay in place. I highly recommend using the full amount of powdered sugar.
• Piping bags. If you don’t have a small round piping tip just, you can also trim the end off a piping bag or the corner off a Ziplock bag.

How to Store Turkey Cupcakes

Store the cupcakes in an airtight cupcake carrier or in a single layer in an airtight container tall enough to accommodate the frosting. You can store them at room temperature for up to 24 hours, in the fridge for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. They are best enjoyed at room temperature so let them sit on the counter for a bit before biting in.

More Great Fall Recipes

• Pecan Pie Cupcakes
• Easy Apple Crisp
• Pumpkin Bread
• White Chocolate Dipped Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
• Caramel Apple Cupcakes
• Salted Honey Pie

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