These adorable turkey cake pops make a delightful place card for your Thanksgiving table. Moist cake balls covered in milk chocolate are dressed up using candy melts, white chocolate, and candy corn. Gobble Gobble!

A vertical collage image with the text "turkey cake pops." The top photograph shows chocolate covered turkey cake pops for thanksgiving. The bottom image shows the turkey cake pops being used as a place card for Thanksgiving, with names on each stick.

Every year when Thanksgiving comes around, I try to come up with creative ideas for our meal, dessert, and decorations.

Thanksgiving is such a special holiday in our family. I love to make it even more special as we gather around the table each year. To do so, I try to come up with ways to surprise and delight everyone with something they haven’t seen before.

A few years ago, I was brainstorming Thanksgiving cake pops decorating ideas.

We were fresh off making our Thankful Turkey Thanksgiving Cookies, and I was on a turkey decorating roll. My family has so much fun making our thankful turkey cookies each year. I figured I could decorate cake pops for Thanksgiving that look like little turkeys. Why not keep the turkey theme going, right?

I made these turkey cake pops on a whim, with ingredients I had on hand. It was a true DIY effort. It was so DIY that when I couldn’t find a piping bag, I used a sandwich bag to pipe the turkey faces on! I think they look super cute, if a little “deconstructed.”

A batch of upside down chocolate covered turkey cake pops for thanksgiving sit on a white counter. the feathers are made from candy corn and the faces from candy melts.

But that’s part of the charm, isn’t it?

One thing I really love about them is they are meant to be served “stick up.”

Unlike a lot of the Gobble Gobble Turkey Cake Pops I’ve seen online, these are upside down cake pops.

I actually did this on purpose for a few reasons.

For one, I wanted chocolate covered cake pops, and it’s hard to make chocolate covered cake balls look perfect. The holidays are too busy to fuss with fussy desserts, don’t you think?

However, I also had a plan for each Thanksgiving cake pop. I wanted to use my turkey cake pops as place cards on my Thanksgiving table. Because of this, they each needed to sit on the table easily, at different place settings, without any sort of cake pop stand.

2 upside down chocolate covered turkey cake pops on a piece of cloth. The feathers are made from candy corn and the cake pop sticks have flags with guests names on them so they can be used as thanksgiving place cards.

Turkey Cake Pops Recipe: How to Make Turkey Cake Pops

To make these cake pop turkeys, you need to start with a basic cake pop recipe. I’ve used this recipe many times over the years, and think the addition of the pudding mix is key, as it keeps the cake really moist and easy to work with when it comes time to form your cake pop balls.

These cake pops need to set in the freezer for about 2 hours, so make them first, and then prepare the rest of your steps.

When the cake balls are almost set freezer, melt some chocolate melting candy according to instructions, thinning it out with a bit of shortening. As the chocolate is melting, line a baking sheet with wax paper. This is where you’ll let the dipped cake balls set.

Take a cake ball and insert a lollipop stick. Then dip each cake ball into the melted chocolate, and then place the ball onto the wax paper lined baking sheet.

Immediately, press the pointy ends of 3 pieces of candy corn into the cake pop to make the turkey’s feathers. You have to do this right after you dip the cake balls in the chocolate. The chocolate coating starts hardening very quickly and once it does, you won’t be able to press the candy corn in without cracking it.

Once your candy corn turkey feathers are pressed in each cake ball, let them set for about 30 minutes.

Then it’s time to make the turkey cake pop face! I chose to use candy melts to make my turkey cake pop faces. That said, you could make it simpler, and use candy eyes for the eyes and upside down sprinkle hearts for the turkey’s snoods (that’s the red hanging part of the turkey’s neck).

If you want to use candy melts like I did, melt a small amount of white candy melt for the face. I piped my faces on using a sandwich bag with the tip cut off, which looks a bit deconstructed, but – hey – you gotta work with what you have on hand!

Then I remelted some of the dark chocolate which I used to cover the turkey cake pop bodies, and used a tooth pick to dab on two eyes.

Finally, I melted red and yellow candy melts, and dabbed those on using a toothpick as well.

After decorating, put the cake pops aside to let them set. You can speed this process up by putting them in the fridge if you’re short on time.

Then add your guests names to the sticks. I made little flags out of washi tape. When it came time to set the table, I put each Turkey cake pop right on our dinner plates. I guarantee you’ll get some smiles from your Thanksgiving guests!

Yield: 24

Upside Down Turkey Cake Pops for Thanksgiving

Name: Upside Down Turkey Cake Pops for Thanksgiving
Prep time: 2 h 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 3 h 5 min
Yield: 24
Ingredients: 24 Premade Cake Pops Made Following This Recipe; 24 Lollipop Sticks; Melting Candy: chocolate and white chocolate, red, and yellow; 1 to 2 tablespoons shortening; Wax paper; Toothpicks; Washi tape and a marker (for guest names)

Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

24 Premade Cake Pops Made Following This Recipe
24 Lollipop Sticks
Melting Candy: chocolate and white chocolate, red, and yellow
1 to 2 tablespoons shortening
Wax paper
Toothpicks
Washi tape and a marker (for guest names)

Instructions

Make 24 basic cake pops by following this recipe.
When the cake pops are almost set, line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside a dish of candy corn (3 pieces per cake pop).
Melt your milk or dark melting chocolate, using a bit of shortening to thin it out slightly.
Remove the cake pop balls from the freezer, pop a lollipop stick into each ball, and dip each ball in the melted chocolate.
Set the dipped chocolate covered cake pop on the wax paper lined baking sheet, and immediately push 3 pieces of candy corn into the back of the cake pop, pointy side down. This will make the turkey's feathers.
Once all of the turkeys have candy corn feathers, let the cake pops set for approximately 30 minutes.
Once the cake pops have almost set, melt a small amount of white chocolate for the turkey's faces and pipe the faces onto the cake pop bodies. Let set.
Remelt some of your dark or milk chocolate, and use a toothpick to dap the turkeys' eyes on each cake ball.
Melt the red and yellow candy melts and dab the turkey's beak and snood on using a toothpick as well.
Let set, and make a flag or sign to attach to the cake pop sticks as a place card!

Notes

When inserting the candy corn feathers into the chocolate covered cake pop balls, you have to do it immediately. The chocolate coating starts hardening very quickly and once it does, you won’t be able to press the candy corn in without cracking it.

You could also use sprinkles and candy pieces to form the turkey's face. Candy eyes would work for eyes instead of chocolate spots, and an upside down sprinkle heart could be used for the snood.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 203Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 108mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 0gSugar: 22gProtein: 1g

Nutritional information is calculated via a third party service and is meant as a rough estimate only. I can't confirm whether the nutritional information is accurate or not.