Now that it’s getting dark upsettingly early, Strictly Come Dancing is well under way and the Cornish rainstorms have begun, there’s no longer any doubt that Autumn is here. It’s cold and windy and workloads are starting to ramp up, so I thought I’d bring you a bit of Autumnal deliciousness to cheer things up a bit. Put on your favourite jumper, light a spice-scented candle and have a go at these Apple Crumble Cupcakes.
This recipe is a slightly adapted version of the one posted by Proper Tasty on Facebook so give their video a watch if you want an idea of the whole process.
Ingredients as listed on Proper Tasty (with Vicky’s notes):
Apple Mixture
-200 grams apple, diced (I used about ¾ of a large Bramley apple)
-1 tablespoon brown sugar (from watching the video I went for light brown)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1 teaspoon nutmeg
-1 tablespoon lemon zest (about one lemon’s worth)
-Juice of half a lemon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (less if you’re using vanilla essence)
Cupcake mixture
-150 grams unsalted butter, softened (you can use spread if you’d rather)
-150 grams brown sugar
-150 grams plain flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 tablespoon cornflour (couldn’t find this in Sainsbury’s, left it out, didn’t seem to matter)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-½ teaspoon ground cloves (I used a bit less because cloves are strong)
-3 eggs
Crumble mix
-1 tablespoon plain flour
-2 tablespoon oats
-1 tablespoon brown sugar
-1 tablespoon butter
-Top with whipped cream (I didn’t do this but you’ll see that later on)
Method:
Optional pre-baking step – make a trip in the pouring rain to the supermarket for ingredients. Nothing says Autumn like wearing wellies to Sainsbury’s.
1. Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F (I guess this is for a fan oven, maybe turn it up to 180 if you know your oven is a bit weak). Cook the apple, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and the juice of half a lemon in a saucepan until the apple is soft and your kitchen smells like Christmas. Take the pan off the heat and mash until the mix resembles a paste – I used a potato masher, but you could use a fork if needed. Put the mix aside to cool.
2. Cream together the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl – you could use a mixer if you have one, but a wooden spoon works fine. Add the flour (sieve if you can be bothered, I didn’t because life is short), baking powder, cinnamon, and ground cloves and mix. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each time. Stir in the apple mixture, making sure it’s well incorporated into the cake mix.
3. Put cupcake cases into a tin and add the mixture – the recipe said fill around halfway but my first batch came out flat and I had lots of mix left so for the next 6 I filled the cases about ¾ of the way to the top and they were much better. Bake for 30-35 minutes (seems quite a long time for cupcakes but mine were done after exactly 30 minutes). Leave them to cool, preferably on a cooling rack if you have one. I got 16 cupcakes from this mixture, but if I make them again I’ll fill the cases a bit more so I’d say this recipe makes about 14.
4. In a bowl, rub together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and butter with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Spread it out on a tray or in a tin and toast under the grill for 5-10 minutes until golden brown. My tray has holes in it so I used baking parchment, but if you’re going to do this make sure you don’t have excess paper over the edges or it might catch fire – you’ve been warned!
5. The Proper Tasty recipe tops the cupcakes with whipped cream – do this if you want a quick topping and if you know you’re going to get through the cakes pretty quickly as cream doesn’t keep too well. Alternatively, you could go for a buttercream icing or just buy a tub of ready-made frosting. I decided to make a cream cheese frosting – I don’t have any measurements for this, sorry, but I basically mixed together icing sugar and cream cheese until it was the right consistency for frosting then added a few drops of vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon. I don’t have any piping stuff with me at uni so I went for the ‘spoon it on and call it rustic’ approach. Whichever topping you’ve gone for, finish your cakes off with a sprinkling of the crumble, then tuck in!
These cupcakes literally taste like Autumn. They remind me of the feeling of getting into the house after a cold family walk and putting your slippers on. They’re just so good. Also they have apple in them so, as cupcakes go, you could argue that they’re not the unhealthiest thing you could be eating.