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How to Make Cute Turkey Cupcake Toppers

by Renée 7 Comments

turkey1

Kawaii is a Japanese word for “cute” and it has become an popular genre of cake decorating. To create a fresh version of Thanksgiving cupcake toppers, I gave the traditional turkey a kawaii spin. These adorable fondant toppers are sure to get a great reaction from the kids at Thanksgiving!

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This what you need list:
Work surface
Corn starch
Rolling pin
Large PMI Daisy cutter
Round cutters in 2.5, 1, and .5 inches
X-acto knife
Stick tool
Black pearl sprinkles
White icing writer
Fondant in black, white, yellow and varying shades of brown
Not pictured:
White food coloring
Tiny paint brush
#12 piping tip
Black and yellow edible marker

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Step 1: Dust the work surface with corn starch and roll out the yellow fondant. Cut out desired number of yellow circles for the toppers. These will be the backgrounds.

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Step 2: Next roll out a dark brown fondant. Use the daisy cutter to cut out one daisy per topper. This will be the tail of the turkey.

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Step 3: I was making five toppers so I cut out five daisies.

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Step 4: With a rolling cutter or X-acto, trim off the bottom five daisy petals.

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Step 5: Dampen the back of the remaining daisy and attach it to the yellow background. The one-inch circle cutter will form the oversized head of the turkey. The half inch round cutter will form the small body.

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Step 6: Once the tail feather piece is in place, you can use your round cutters to gently mark where the head and body of the turkey will go.

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Step 7: Using your cutters, cut out the head and body for each turkey and attach them in place with water. The heads are a slightly darker shade of brown than the bodies.

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Step 8: To make the eyes, you will need the stick tool, black pearl sprinkles and icing writer.

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Step 9: Use the stick tool to depress a dent where each eye will go. The eyes should be low and wide set.

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Step 10: Carefully add a tiny dab of icing writer in each dent. This will act as glue to hold the black pearls in place. (Any edible glue such as royal icing will do.)

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Step 11: This is what they look like after the eyes have been gently pressed in place. I added tiny triangles of yellow fondant for the beaks.

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Step 12: Using a medium brown fondant, roll two small tear drop -shaped pieces and attach with water. These are the wings.

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Step 13: Next roll two tiny balls of yellow and attach with water as the feet. Press each one 3 times with a toothpick to shape them.

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Step 14: To make the little pilgrim hats, I used the .5 inch round cutter for the brim and a #12 piping tip to mold the top. Attach them together with a dab of water.

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Step 15: Attach the tiny pilgrim hats to the turkey heads on a cute angle using a dab of water.

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Step 16: These final steps are optional to add fine details to the toppers. Add a tiny white fondant square to the front of each hat for the buckle. Then use a tiny paint brush and white icing color to paint a pointy collar and white band on each hat.

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Step 17: As a final touch, color in the details of the buckle with black and yellow edible marker.

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Now you know how to make cute turkey cupcake toppers. I hope these cute turkeys bring a smile to the faces of your guests on Thanksgiving!  I know they made me smile!

Happy Caking!
Renée

Previous Post: « How to Make Easy No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Next Post: How to Make Santa Cupcake Toppers »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Renee

    September 25, 2022 at 7:40 PM

    This tutorial was created by Renee Daly.

    Reply
  2. Meena@AnchoredinSweets

    December 31, 2015 at 3:48 PM

    These are adorable!
    Thanks for this post.

    Reply
    • Renee

      January 7, 2016 at 9:33 PM

      You are welcome! I’m glad you like them!

      Reply
  3. Pritesh Dagur

    November 19, 2015 at 9:14 PM

    SUCH cute Turkeys! The hats are a killer! Lovely work 🙂

    Reply
    • Renee

      January 7, 2016 at 9:34 PM

      Thank you!!????

      Reply
  4. Patti

    November 19, 2015 at 9:08 PM

    Very cute.

    Reply
    • Renee

      January 7, 2016 at 9:34 PM

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply

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Kristen is the author of Cake Journal and a graduate of the Professional Baking program at Renton Technical College. She has worked as a pastry chef at a top Seattle restaurant and loves sharing her passion for baking amazing cakes on this site.

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