Chocolate Cupcakes with Penuche Filling

A layer of penuche creates frosted chocolate cupcakes reminiscent of a delicious mini layered cake.

Ingredients

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1

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cups in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Make and cool cupcakes as directed on box for 24 cupcakes--except add vanilla to batter.
2

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 1 hour or until lukewarm, about 90°F.
3

Beat icing sugar into cooled brown sugar mixture with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. If filling becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. If filling is too soft, cover; return to refrigerator 15 minutes to firm up.
4

Remove paper baking cups from cupcakes. 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.

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 icing 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.