Coconut oil is all the rage now.  People are using organic coconut oil to condition hair, to moisturize skin and even to clean teeth (oil pulling).  Coconut oil has numerous health benefits. For cooking, I personally like coconut oil  for sauteing vegetables and making scrambled eggs, but I had not used coconut oil in baking until now. With that said, coconut oil used in baking is new. To capture both the health benefits of coconut oil and increase the coconut flavor in cupcakes, you can substitute coconut oil in place of butter. Luckily it is a straight one-to-one ratio.

Coconut cupcakes remind me of my late grandmother. She used to make coconut cake for special occasions. I used to steal a finger full of the coconut frosting and hoped no one would notice when they got a slice.

For the Easter and other spring holidays, coconut cupcakes are great because they be easily decorated to look bird's nest with either jelly beans or chocolate eggs on top.

Note:  For this recipe, it is good to measure out all the ingredients especially you will be adding some of the ingredients gradually into the mixing bowl.