Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

A Fun & Easy Thanksgiving Cupcake Design

These colourful Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes are the sweetest way to celebrate the season!

Each cupcake is decorated with bright buttercream “feathers” in red, orange, and yellow, and finished with a cute chocolate turkey face. They’re fun to make, easy to decorate, and guaranteed to be a hit at your Thanksgiving table.

Whether you’re baking with kids, making something special for a school party, or adding a playful dessert to your holiday spread, these turkey cupcakes are full of colour, creativity, and festive charm.

The Design

I started by making a batch of my Basic Buttercream and dividing it in half ,one half for chocolate and the other for the colourful feathers. To make the chocolate buttercream, I mixed in cocoa powder and cream until smooth but you could also use brown food gel as an alternative.

For the feathers, I divided the plain buttercream into three bowls and tinted each one red, orange, and yellow using gel food colouring. (You can see my full How to Colour Buttercream guide for tips.)

I used my “pipe and swipe” technique for the feathers by piping dots of each colour around the edge of the cupcake and swiping them with a piping tip. I finished by piping a chocolate buttercream in the centre for the turkey’s head, then added two candy eyes and an orange M&M for the beak. For the final touch, a little red buttercream creates the little wattle, and the turkeys were ready to gobble!

If you like my pipe and swipe technique then check out my Dino cupcakes and Easy Lions for more ideas.

See all my Thanksgiving cupcake designs here for more festive inspiration, from classic turkeys to sparkly pumpkins and spiced buttercream treats.

Why You’ll Love These Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

• Festive and fun: The perfect colourful dessert for your Thanksgiving table.

• Easy to decorate: My simple pipe-and-swipe technique that gives a beautiful feathered look.

• Bright, happy colours: The red, orange, and yellow buttercream pops against the chocolate.

• Kid-approved: Little ones love adding the candy eyes and M&M beaks!

• Chocolate & vanilla combo: Chocolate cupcakes with yummy vanilla buttercream.

• Picture-perfect: They photograph beautifully for dessert tables or party trays.

Things I Used

Here are the tools and ingredients I used to make these cupcakes. If you’re recreating them, these links will save you the guesswork:

• Cupcakes: Any flavour works, but I used my chocolate cupcakes for this design.

• Buttercream: I used a batch of my Basic Buttercream Recipe and flavoured it with vanilla and cocoa. You can use any flavour you like.

• Food colour gels: I used Wilton gel colours. You can use any brand but i recommend gel as you don’t need much to achieve a bright colour. Follow my colouring buttercream guide for the best results.

• Piping tips: I used a large star tip (6B) for the feathers and a large round tip (1A) for the body and the head. The wattle is piped using a small round piping tip (3)

• Piping bags:  I used disposable piping bags, I always wash them and reuse them as many times as i can.

• Orange M and Ms: For the beak, any coloured candy would work.

• Small candy eyes: I used wilton candy eyes.

• Small Bowl & Spatulas:  For mixing the buttercream colours.

• Tweezers: For adding the small details, trust me they are worth it.

Rachel Lindsay

Chief Resident Cake Baker