It is when you frost and decorate these Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes that they truly come to life. They are topped with chocolate frosting, M&Ms, Hershey's Kisses, and Red Hots, making them as fun to eat as they are to nibble on.
Ingredients to Make Thanksgiving Gobble Gobble Cupcakes
½cupLukewarm Coffee
2tbspLukewarm Coffee
½cupCocoa Powder
1 ¼cupFlour
½tspSalt
1 ¼tspBaking Soda
1tspGround Cinnamon
½tspGround Cloves
1cupSugar
1largeEgg
1largeEgg Yolk
½cupFull Fat Sour Cream
2TbspFull Fat Sour Cream
½cupCanola Oil
Ingredients to Decorate the Turkey Cupcakes
1containerChocolate Frosting
1largeBag of M&MsUse Only Red, Orange, Yellow, and Blue
1cupWhite Chocolate Candy Melts
1bagMilk Chocolate Hershey's Kisses
Orange Gel Coloring
1boxRed Hots
1disposablePiping Bag
1 tubeIcingBlack
Instructions
How to Make Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Using a small bowl, whisk together the hot coffee and cocoa powder until smooth and no lumps remain. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.
Using a standing mixer beat the egg, egg yolk, and sugar on medium high speed until pale yellow in color.
Add the sour cream and mix until combined, followed by the vegetable oil.
Add the flour mixture all at once and mix until combined.
Add the cocoa mixture and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full with the batter and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 12-15 minutes.
Let cupcakes cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Decorate the Turkey Cupcakes
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Unwrap 10-14 Hershey Kisses and set aside.
Using a small microwave-safe bowl, melt 1/2 of the white chocolate. Mix in 2-3 drops of the orange gel food coloring and mix until combined.
Dip the tip of the of the Hershey Kiss into the orange chocolate.
Place a Red Hot onto the bottom side of the of the "beak" to create the gobble.
Using another small bowl, melt the remaining white chocolate. Scoop the melted white chocolate into a piping bag and cut the tip off.
Pipe 20-28 small white dots onto the cookie sheet. Place the blue M&M's onto the white dots to create the eyes. Using the black cake icing, pipe small dots for the pupils.
Set all aside to dry for 1 hour. Once dry, carefully peel off the parchment paper.
Pipe a small dot of the black icing onto the back of the eyes and place onto each side of the beak.
Using the chocolate icing, frost the cupcakes.
Using 8 red m&m's, create the top layer of the feathers on a cupcake.
Using 6 orange m&m's, create the second layer of the feathers.
Using 4 yellow m&m's, create the third layer of the feathers.
Place the Hershey Kiss into the front center of the feathers.
Enjoy!
Notes
Please note that nutrition facts are subject to change based on your choice of ingredients.As the calories can vary with your choice of chocolate icing and how much candy you use, we have calculated the calories based on the cake part of the cupcake. You'll want to make adjustments to accommodate your choice of icing and how heavily your decorate the cupcake.