No-Maple Maple Bar Donut-Esque Cupcakes

This brown sugar caramel frosting makes the plain yellow cupcake a top notch sweet.  This frosting certainly had a leg up in our house thanks to my mom's and my especially sweet tooth for brown sugar...we've both been caught more than a couple times panning through the bag for the little nuggets of clumped brown sugar.  Even though there isn't a drop of maple in this frosting, it tastes just like the maple frosting on maple bar donuts...my favorite!  It also is very similar to penuche, a yummy brown sugar fudge.  Penuche, pe-no-ce, maple, no maple, whatever you call this frosting is just plain good.  So, with just a few ingredients, a lot of stirring, and only a couple seconds of terror while milk and boiling sugar combined, these no-maple maple bar donut-esque cupcakes have found a place among my favorites.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)

Frosting Ingredients
3/4 cup        butter
1 1/2 cups      brown sugar
6 tbsp          milk
3 cups          powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp        vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Prepare cake batter according to box instructions.
4.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full (the boxes always say 2/3 full but the top is the best part so why not make it bigger!).
5.  Bake cupcakes according to box instructions.
6.  Let cupcakes cool-This is the hard part, but the frosting has to be used immediately so the cupcakes need to be cooled and ready.

7.  Bring butter and sugar to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan, stirring constantly.
8.  Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly...i did say a lot of stirring!
9.  Stir in milk and bring back to a boil.
10.  Remove from heat.
11.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
12.  Stir until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
13.  Frost cupcakes immediately.

14.  If the frosting starts to harden, reheat the frosting over low heat then keep on frosting.
The frosting gives these no-maple maple bar donut-esque cupcakes a great taste and a fancy shine that both get better with a little resting time!

** Leftover List: Put extra frosting in the fridge and let it set.  Break it into little pieces and nibble away.  When it's set in the fridge, this frosting tastes even more like penuche and makes a perfect little snack.