Apple Crumble Cupcakes
As promised! Finally found spare time to do some baking, so decided to go for the cupcakes I’ve been wanting to try since I got the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book last year. I tried the original version of these cupcakes at the Hummingbird Bakery last year and they tasted unbelievably good, so I was keen to try and replicate if I could!
The sponge is your normal vanilla sponge, except with a little less vanilla extract and an extra teaspoon of cinnamon – I made the cupcake mixture and filled the cases as I would usually (I decided to try the brown paper cases I got at Cake International and they turned out quite well, unfortunately, the cupcakes started peeling away from the cases by the next day, which is another problem I haven’t managed to solve yet).
To make the apple filling, I used 3 Golden Delicious green apples, cut them into smaller pieces and stewed in a saucepan. The apples are covered with a mixture of brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and a little bit of butter. Its best if they don’t go mushy, but just soft enough to the touch as they will get softer once they go in the oven.
Once the apple filling has cooled down, I added about 2 teaspoons of it into the centre of each cupcake. Make sure you add the apple filling after the cupcake mixture has been added. I realised at this point I could have cut the apples into smaller chunks and added more into each cupcake.
Once the cupcakes were cooked, I left them inside the tin to cool for about 5 minutes before removing them and placing them on a cooling rack. I noticed some of the cupcakes could have done with a fewer apples/more mix because it looked a little sunken in areas but generally, they came out quite well!
Whilst I was waiting for the cupcakes to bake, I made the custard topping and also the crumble. The custard is relatively simple to make, very similar to the one for Strawberry Trifle cupcakes. But it does take time to cool down before you can do anything with it. It is a mix of egg yolks, cornflour, plain flour and hot milk to make a thick paste. You have to be sure to mix it well because cornflour tends to clump together, so when I added the mixture together on the hob, I made sure to keep stirring. At first it will seem very liquidy but it thickens to a paste-like substance very fast. At this point, I poured it into a square tin, spread it out a little and covered with clingfilm and left it to cool down.
The crumble is the same as what you would make for a normal apple crumble – butter, sugar, oats and flour. Once the custard had cooled, I folded in whipped double cream and piped it out onto the cupcakes. It is a thick enough consistency that it will hold its shape, but there is also the option to just spoon it on. Added the crumble on top and there you have it!
One thought