These Apple Crumble Cupcakes are my new favourite cupcake flavour! They have a cinnamon apple sponge, vanilla buttercream and are topped with more cinnamon chopped apple and crispy, buttery crumble.... divine!

Apple crumble is a classic, loved dessert. It is comforting and warming- a perfect autumnal/ winter pudding. However, its. not a year round recipe as it's unlikely the craving for a super warm dessert will come in summer. Despite this, the flavours of this beautiful dessert should really be enjoyed all year round. This is why this recipe is such a good one. It has all the flavours of a classic apple crumble: cinnamon, caramelised sugar, apples, etc etc. But the cupcakes are not warm and can be eaten on the hottest of days!

If I was going to compare these apple crumble cupcakes to any other, it would be Carrot Cake cupcakes (recipe here). I follow a very similar method within this recipe to my carrot cake cupcakes recipe. For example, the apples are grated in a similar fashion to the carrots. Therefore, if you are a carrot cake lover, then you will 100% LOVE these cupcakes.

I made this entire recipe, from start to finish, in 2 hours (with gaps in between). This means that you can make this recipe pretty quickly, all within one morning or afternoon. So if you are looking for a bake to eat later today, this is the recipe for you.

The buttercream icing is made with vegetable shortening and butter. Shortening is a vegetable fat which works very well in buttercream icing. When using only butter, the icing can be too loose, which increases the chance of it melting. With the vegetable shortening it stays nice and firm in texture. However, if you can't source the vegetable shortening, just use all butter. Note, it will be more yellow in colour and you will have to be more careful with keeping it cold!

I hope you love these apple crumble cupcakes as much as I do. Let me know in the comments below how you get on!

G x

Apple Crumble Cupcakes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Decorating Time 30

Total Time 1 5

Course Dessert, Snack

Servings cupcakes

Ingredients

120 g Flour plain, white, all-purpose
½ teaspoon Baking powder

½ teaspoon Baking soda
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon powder

130 g Soft light brown sugar
30 ml Milk unsweetened almond
½ tablespoon Apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
75 ml Vegetable oil
1 Flax egg 1 tablespoon Flaxseed diluted in 3 tablespoon water

120 g Apple grated

For the Icing

200 g Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

350 g Icing sugar

For the Crumble

9 g Butter
18 g Flour plain, white, all-purpose

10 g Sugar
½ Apple chopped- for decoration

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 180°C/ 357F. Prep your cupcake cases. Place 7 into a muffin tray.

In a large bowl, sieve + combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon) together. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and the apple cider vinegar. Once curdled, add the other wet ingredients: the oil and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, along with the flax egg and grated apple. Whisk until all combined.
Place the batter into the 7 cupcake holders. Bake for 20 minutes and then leave to cool.
Once you have removed your cupcakes, keep your oven on to make your crumble. In a small bowl, place the flour (18g), butter (9g) and sugar (10g). Combine with your fingers until a fine crumble has formed. Place onto a lined baking tray and bake for 18 minutes, until golden and crispy. Then, remove from the oven to cool.

In a standing mixer, add the butter and beat on medium-high speed until creamed (2-3 minutes). Sieve the icing sugar into the same bowl. Then add the vanilla extract. Mix on a low speed for 1 minute, and then increase to a high speed for a further minute or two, until a light and smooth buttercream icing has formed. You can leave this for longer if you want the icing fluffier. If you have made this ahead of time and the cupcakes aren't cool yet, make sure to place this in the fridge until you use it.
Once your cupcakes are completely cool, place the icing into a piping bag and pipe onto the cupcakes. You can do this in whatever way you like! Then, evenly place some of the cinnamon coated chopped apple on top of the buttercream icing. Then sprinkle some crumble on top of the apple. And that's it! I hope you love them!