Apple Crumble AND Custard Cupcakes

That’s right – apple crumble AND custard cupcakes. The custard is baked right in the middle of these little beauties.

Apple crumble is a favourite of mine, especially around this time of year. With the cold dark nights, Sunday dinner was never complete in the autumn without a bowl of my mum’s apple crumble.

I used to have mine’s with evaporated milk, but custard is probably another favourite pairing with the dessert. So why not try and capture the entire dish in one delicious cupcake?

My idea was to make an apple cupcake, sprinkle on a crumble topping, and somehow get the custard in the middle. I couldn’t core out the centre after it was baked -  the crumble topping would be set. So I thought why not drop some chilled thick custard in the middle of the batter and bake the cupcake around it. And it worked. Chilling it seemed to stop the custard dissolving into the rest of the cupcake.

For the apple in the cupcake, I used an idea I found on another site, a jar of bramley apple sauce. Perfectly sized wee chunks of apple ready to add to the mix.

Here’s the recipe;

Yield: 8 large cupcakes

Ingredients:

Crumble Topping:

50 grams plain flour

25 grams light brown sugar

25 grams unsalted butter

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cupcake:

270 gram jar Bramley apple sauce

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

55 grams unsalted butter, softened

85 grams light brown sugar

1 medium egg

180 grams self-raising flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Adapted from Allrecipes

Custard filling:

1 sachet of instant custard powder

½ water recommended on instruction

Method:

Custard:

Make the custard as instructed on the pack, except use only half the water recommended. Let the custard cool and then chill in the freezer 30 minutes before making the cupcakes.

Crumble:

Make the crumble by rubbing together in a bowl the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Cupcakes:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a large cupcake tray with 8 liners. In a small bowl empty the contents of the apple sauce and mix in the bicarb. The mix will begin to fizz and foam. Set aside.

Beat together the 55 grams butter and 85 grams sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until the mix looks slightly thickened. Sift together the self-raising flour and cinnamon.

Add one third of the flour to the butter/sugar/egg mix and stir through. Add half the apples and mix through. Another third of flour, the rest of the apples, then the remaining flour. Stir until just combined.

Fill each cupcake liner a third full. Take the chilled custard and spoon a heaped teaspoon on top of the cupcake batter. Top each cupcake with more batter, so it covers the custard. Lastly, sprinkle on the crumble mix and press down lightly.

Place these into the oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the side (the centre will have molten custard in it).

Allow these to cool slightly before tucking in. They are best eaten warm, but cold is just as delicious. They really are what’s called for on a chilly wintumn (just made that up) night. Enjoy!