Coconut Mocha Crunch Cupcakes

This afternoon I decided to try something new...coffee in a cupcake! I've thrown the idea around for a while, knowing I was starting to love the coffee flavor, but not sure what flavor to combine it with. I put the idea on the back burner, knowing I would think of something eventually.

Fast forward to this morning. Every Sunday, Russell and I head down to Folsom to go to our favorite coffee spot, Cooper's Coffee House. We first tried Cooper's over the summer, after a failed attempt at attending the State Fair. We were already down the hill and the day was young! We wound up there after remembering there was once an It's A Grind at the same location.

That day we tried the blended Coconut Mocha Crunch and we were hooked.

Since then, we have started our Sundays with a Coconut Mocha Crunch. It's kind of nice to have a routine, since our schedules are often quite different from each other! This morning, over our drinks, I brought up to Russell that I'd like to bake Coconut Mocha Cupcakes soon. His response: "Why not today?"

Right away I began googling recipes. I found this great one from My Baking Addiction. I was able to use the recipe by making a few little tweaks.

The original baker used Donut House Coconut Mocha coffee, but I used a Dark Roast K-cup that I had on hand. Also, instead of toasted coconut shavings, I used a jar of Toasted Coconut Crunch topping that I received for Christmas. Finally, I only made half a batch of mocha buttercream, and that yielded enough to ice 17 cupcakes.

I think that this recipe turned out nicely! It tastes pretty similar to the drink from Cooper's that we love so dearly, though it has a bit stronger coffee flavor. Now I'm inspired to make my own version of the drink at home!

Photo from my instagram. Follow me @xokimberlybee