Chocolate Cupcakes with Penuche Filling

By brownbox

Ingredients

• Cupcakes
• 1 box chocolate fudge cake mix (Super Moist)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Filling and Garnish
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 oz grated semisweet baking chocolate, if desired

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal pans (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms only of 24 regular-size muffin cups with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake 18 to 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Pour mixture into medium bowl; refrigerate about 30 minutes or until lukewarm.
5. Beat powdered sugar into cooled brown sugar mixture on low speed until smooth. If frosting becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.
6. Using serrated knife, cut each cupcake in half horizontally, being careful not to break either half. Place heaping 1 tablespoon filling on each cupcake base. Replace rounded cupcake tops. Pipe or spoon rounded 1 tablespoon frosting onto cupcake tops. Garnish with grated chocolate. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Kitchen Tips
Reynolds StayBrite Baking Cups are fashion-inspired designs that won’t fade during baking.
The word penuche comes from a Mexican word meaning "raw sugar" or "brown sugar." It is used to describe a fudgelike candy made from brown sugar, butter, milk or cream and vanilla.
It's important to refrigerate the cooked brown sugar mixture to lukewarm (about 90°F). This will give you the proper consistency when the powdered sugar is beaten in.
If you have only one pan and a recipe calls for more cupcakes than your pan will make, cover and refrigerate the rest of the batter while baking the first batch. Cool the pan about 15 minutes, then bake the rest of the batter, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.
Nutrition Information–

Serving Size: 1 Cupcake Calories340 ( Calories from Fat120), Total Fat14g (Saturated Fat6g, Trans Fat0g ), Cholesterol45mg Sodium230mg Total Carbohydrate53g (Dietary Fiber0g Sugars45g ), Protein2g ; % Daily Value*: Vitamin A6%; Vitamin C0%; Calcium6%; Iron4%; Exchanges:1 Starch; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; Carbohydrate Choices:3 1/2 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.