Thanksgiving Turkey Cake Pops

I've been having so much fun making all kinds of cake pops lately. As soon as November hit, I knew I needed to add a Thanksgiving edition turkey to the site.

I made two different designs of turkey cake pops, one using only chocolate for decoration and the other using crackers, candy corn, and candy eyes. Both of these are easy to pull off, so choose which one you like the best (or try them both).

🥘 Ingredients

Cake Pop Dough & Sticks (above, left)

• Cake - You'll need one standard-sized cake (like a 9x13 size). It can be made from scratch or made from boxed mix in any flavor. Bake it as directed and then let it cool.
• Frosting - Use a frosting flavor that pairs well with your cake flavor. Again, it can be homemade or store-bought. This is what will help to bind the cake together to form a dough.
• Almond Bark - Brown almond bark melts wonderfully and makes a great color for a turkey. You can also use candy melts.
• Treat Sticks - You can't have a cake pop without some type of treat stick, paper straw, or lollipop stick.

Stacked Turkeys (above, left)

• Almond Bark - White almond bark can easily be colored to make the face and feathers of your turkey. If you don't want to color your chocolate, you can use pre-colored candy melts.
• Oil Food Coloring - If coloring your almond bark, you'll want oil-based food coloring in the colors red, yellow, black, and orange.
• Snowman Cake Pop Mold (optional) - I used this cake pop mold from My Little Cake Pop, but you can easily make two different sized balls of cake pop dough in your hands and just stack them together. Both of these options will give you the same result.

Candy Corn Turkeys (above, right)

• Candy Corn - Candy corn will be used for both the feathers and the beak. In October, you cand find candy corn everywhere, but I did have a little more trouble once November hit. I had luck getting it at Sprout's, but you can also find it on Amazon.
• Ritz Crackers - Regular Ritz crackers will be dipped in chocolate and used as a base for the candy corn feathers.
• Red Heart Sprinkles - Any variety of red heart-shaped sprinkle should work. When turned upside-down, it makes a perfect wattle for your turkey.

👩🏻‍🍳 How To Make Thanksgiving Turkey Cake Pops 2 Ways

Both turkeys are easy to make, and which one you make depends on your preference. You will need a large mixing bowl, a kitchen scale or cookie scoop, a cake pop stand, or a styrofoam block.

This recipe will make 28 total turkey cake pops. Those can be one of the turkey styles or a combination of both.

Make The Cake Pop Dough

Step 1: Make your cake. Prepare your cake according to the boxed directions or make a cake from scratch. Bake like normal and let it cool completely before getting started.

Step 2: Place the cake into the mixer. Once cooled, break up your baked cake and place the pieces into the bowl of your stand mixer (photo 1).

Step 3: Crumble. Using the paddle attachment, turn the mixer on low speed. Let the cake mix until it is crumbled into small pieces (photo 2).

Step 4: Add frosting. Add ⅓ cup (75 grams) of frosting and continue mixing on low to medium-low speed until thoroughly combined (photo 3). The consistency should be similar to Play-doh or modeling clay. If it is too dry and crumbly, add more frosting.

🦃🍡Make The Stacked Turkey Design

Step 5: Shape the dough. Use an upside-down snowman cake pop mold to portion your cake pop dough (photo 4). *If you don't have a snowman mold, you can make two balls, one that is about ⅔-ounce and another about ⅓-ounce, then stack them on top of each other.

Step 6: Melt the almond bark. Break up your 1 pound (454 grams) almond bark and place it into a microwave-safe container. Heat the chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring well between each one, until fully melted (photo 5).

Step 7: Add the sticks. Dip the end of the treat sticks into your melted almond bark and then poke it into the stacked cake so the smaller ball is on the bottom. Let harden for a couple of minutes (photo 6).

Step 8: Dip the cake. Dip the cake pop into the melted chocolate, tap off any excess, and then set it into a cake pop stand or styrofoam block to set up for a few minutes (photo 7).

Step 9: Color the chocolate. Meanwhile, melt the rest of your ½ pound (226 grams) of almond bark and color it using oil food coloring. Make a separate bag for black, white, orange, red, and yellow (photo 8). Snip off a tiny corner of each bag.

Step 10: Make the face. Use the prepared piping bags to pipe a face onto the turkey: use yellow to make a triangle beak, red to make the wattle, black for the eyes, and then tiny white dots to make the eyes shine (photo 9). Set aside.

Step 11: Make the feathers. Using the same bags of color, pipe some feather-shaped chocolate onto a piece of parchment paper. Slide the paper back and forth quickly to smooth everything out (photo 10). Let harden.

Step 12: Attach the feathers. Using a small bit of chocolate as glue, place several colored feathers onto the back of the turkey so it sticks up, extending over the head (photo 11). Let harden for a few minutes.

🦃🍡Make The Candy Corn Turkey Design

Step 13: Portion. Portion your cake pop dough into 1-ounce chunks and then roll each portion into a ball until smooth (photo 12).

Step 14: Add the sticks. Melt your brown 1 pound (454 grams) of almond bark if you haven't already, and dip the end of a treat stick into it before poking it into the cake balls (photo 13). Let harden for a minute.

Step 15: Dip the crackers. Take your 28 Ritz crackers and dip them into the almond bark (it's okay if there is a small space from your fingers. It will be covered by the turkey). Place them onto a piece of parchment paper (photo 14).

Step 16: Add candy corn. Immediately, while the chocolate on the crackers is still wet, place 4 pieces of candy corn onto each one to look like feathers, overhanging off of the cracker only slightly (photo 15). Let harden.

Step 17: Dip the cake pops. Dip each cake ball into the melted almond bark and tap off any excess chocolate (photo 16). Set aside to harden.

Step 18: Attach the face. Use tiny dots of chocolate as glue to attach two candy eyes, a piece of candy corn for the beak, and an upside-down red heart sprinkles for the wattle (photo 17). Note: You may need to hold each item for about 10 seconds so that it won't fall off before the chocolate hardens.

Step 19: Add the feathers. Use a generous drop of chocolate on the open space of the Ritz crackers and then place the cake pop lying on top of it, making sure to keep the stick parallel with the counter for about 10 seconds before letting go. Let harden (photos 18 and 19).

💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes

• Omit the oil. When using a boxed cake mix, simply ignore the oil or butter called for in the ingredients. Mix and bake the cake as usual, then follow along with your cake pops recipe instructions. This will help your treat sticks stay in place.
• There are two ways to color your chocolate. Using pre-colored candy melts or food coloring. If using food color, make sure that it is oil-based. If you use gel or liquid food coloring, it will cause the chocolate to seize. 
• Don't worry if the chocolate sets before you're ready. If your chocolate hardens before you attach your candy corn to the Ritz crackers, just add a small drop of chocolate onto the candy corn to act as glue.
• Pick your design. You can mix and match these two turkey designs. When assembling the stacked turkey, try using candy eyes or candy corn feathers to make decorating easier. 
• Number of candies needed. Note that the number of Ritz crackers, candy eyes, etc are not split. If you make x number of both designs you may have some extras.

🥡 Storing

The mixed, undipped cake pop dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days, or in the freezer for 3-6 months.

Once dipped, your assembled and decorated turkey cake pops can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. 

Freezing

Fully decorated cake pops can be frozen, you just need to freeze fully set cake pops on a tray individually first. Once frozen, package them into a freezer container with parchment paper layers between the cake pops.

Store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks, then thaw cake pops overnight in your fridge before serving.

📖 Recipe Card