Happy Birthday!!
We were going for a pub crawl to celebrate Hubby’s college roommate’s birthday. I offered to bring cupcakes. He loves coffee flavored things, so I had quite a few options when I flipped through Crazy about Cupcakes. I decided on the Carmel Mocha cupcakes.
As usual, when I start baking, I get really excited and tend to bake way too much. Since I wanted to make the Carmel Mocha cupcakes “full-dairy” for the birthday boy, I wanted to make some cupcakes that I would be able to eat. I decided to use some strawberry preserves that we had paired with French Vanilla cupcakes. When I make two batches, I tend to make one from scratch and one from a box mix.
Everyone said the Carmel Mocha cupcakes were great, and I loved the strawberry filled cupcakes. Overall it was a baking success!






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






This looks so homey and delicious!
RDQ: where should I add the cranberries? did you substitute them for the raisins? can i use fresh cranberries?
Sorry – I updated the recipe to reflect that I used dried cranberries in place of the raisins.
Looks just delicious! I’m crazy lately about cranberries too. Talk about a versatile fruit! I just used them this evening to make a cranberry-apple conserve that served as the sauce for almond-crusted pork tenderloin. It was a big hit.
I also wonder if you can use fresh cranberries since they are in season!
You could definitely make this with fresh cranberries if you wanted.
How long did you bake this if you halved it in a 8 by 8 pan? So excited to try it 🙂
I think I started checking it at 30 minutes and left it in for about 45 based on the color of the top layer.
I’ve seen this recipe around before but it never fails to look so delicious! Gorgeous flavours 🙂
Me again. It is DELICIOUS! I halved the recipe and used 1 cup of fresh cranberries, though I think I could have used more.
Thanks so much!
Glad to hear it Lisa! I will definitely have to try this with fresh cranberries next time I make it.