Turkey Cake with Autumn Cupcakes

Guest Post: Turkey Cake With Autumn Cupcakes

Posted by Melissa Diamond - MyCakeSchool.com on 10/30/2011 to Thanksgiving Ideas

We've been following Melissa Diamond, the founder of My Cake School for quite some time over at Candy.com and are lucky enough to have her guest blog on MyCandyCrafts.com this week!

Melissa teaches cake decorating on her site, which includes 100-plus video tutorials, forums, gorgeous close-up imagery, recipes, and Melissa's blog. (Click here for sample video tutorials.)

We challenged this cake star to come up with a Thanksgiving-themed project (pretty broad, huh?) using a smattering of MyCandyCrafts.com products.

Melissa promptly handed us her shopping list and created a turkey cake with a side of cupcakes. Pretty amazing! Aren't the turkey feathers fabulous?

Here's the "how-to" straight from Melissa ...

Melissa's Shopping List

Turkey Topper
1. Mini Wonder Mold Pan
2. Six Teeny Twisters Lollipops
3. Two Caramel Squares (or Brown Fondant or Gum Paste)
4. Americolor Black Pen
5. Tinted frosting in desired colors (I used brown, red, and yellow coloring gels)
6. One Sucker/Candy Stick
7. Small amount of black fondant, gum paste, or Dots candy (to create the top hat)
8. One Straw (optional—I like to use it for support beneath the turkey)
9. Piping Tip(s): Wilton tip 3
10. Piping Bags
*Optional: for my large cake, I used Americolor Ivory & a 2D tip.

Autumn Tree Cupcakes

1. Cupcakes
 2. Frosting
 3. Brown Coloring Gel

4. Wilton Tip 3

5. Autumn Sprinkles

*Optional: I used big white cupcake liners (2 1/4" x 1 5/8”)

I had the best time making this Thanksgiving-themed cake and cupcake tutorial! Both designs are simple, colorful, and very kid-friendly if you would like to enlist the help of little ones!

Let's start off with a loveable turkey cake topper. Here is a snapshot of the supplies that I used.

To make the head, I softened two caramel squares in the microwave for a few seconds (just enough to make them pliable). Then, I rolled the caramel into a ball and placed on top of a lollipop stick. It is easy to twist some of the caramel down even further to form the neck. Fondant or gum paste would work for this step too.)

Using a Wilton tip 3, I piped on the beak and wattle. The eyes were made with an Americolor black pen.

Here's my 9" cake that needs a topper! Notice that I put a bubble tea straw (sturdy straw) in the center of my cake. This will just add a little extra support--it's an optional step. The vertical lines around the sides of the cake were piped on with my Wilton 2D tip! (I also scattered a few leaf sprinkles for a little more color.)

After frosting my mini wonder mold cake with brown buttercream, I chilled it so that the icing could firm up. That way, I could easily move it to the top of the cake. (Chilling is optional, but I think that it helps!)

Now for the fun part! I pushed my Teeny Twisters into the cake. Their candy sticks serve as great anchors. I love the color that they add to the cake.

Now it's just a matter of a few finishing touches!

Ta da! Look how cute!!! After inserting the head/neck, I just used my small round piping tips (Wilton 3) to add wings and a buckle on the top hat. The top hat can be made by stacking a cylinder shaped candy/piece of fondant on top of a flattened round circle of candy/fondant. In my case, I used black Dots candy.

Now that we have a cute turkey cake, I wanted to make some cupcakes to match! These cupcakes may be my favorite Fall cupcake design yet, because I could make them SO quickly with the help of my Autumn sprinkles!!

I used big white cupcake liners (2 1/4 x 1 5/8"). I love the nice tall cupcakes that they made. (No special "tall cupcake" pans required!)

Here I am piping my tree trunks with brown buttercream using a Wilton tip 3.

Then, add your sprinkles! See how easy that was? These are perfect for Thanksgiving or any Fall-themed event!

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! Thanks to MyCandyCrafts.com for asking me to be a guest blogger for this post. I had a great time, and I LOVE your products!

And, we love your teaching style, creativity, and cakes! Thank you Melissa!