Recipe of the week | Crumbly!

Apple Crumble Cupcake

This one is from Lola's Forever recipe book but is tweaked down with less sugar. Enjoy! These went down a storm!

Ingredients
175g self-raising Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons Baking powder
125g unsalted Butter
150g Soft light Brown sugar (200g originally)
1/2 teaspoons Royal Gala Apples (Granny Smith) peeled and finely chopped

Crumble topping
125g Plain flour
25g Ground Almonds
50g Caster/granulated sugar
100g cold Butter, cubed

Cream Cheese Icing
50g Butter
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract (bean paste)
100g Icing sugar
200g Low-fat Cream cheese (Full-fat)

Method:
1)  Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 160oC Fan/350oF/Gas Mark 4. Line a
     large baking sheet with baking parchment and a muffin pan with 12
     muffin cases.
2)  Start by making the crumble topping. Place the flour, almonds and
     sugar into a bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the cold butter into the dry
     ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs,
3)  Spread the crumble mix onto  the lined baking sheet and bake for 15
     minutes, using a spatula every 5 minutes for the crumble to bake
     evenly.  Once golden brown, remove from oven to cool. This mixture
     will keep in an airtight container for up to 10 days.
4) For the cupcakes, place the butter, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl
    and mix until light and fluffy.
5) Add the eggs, one at a time until fully mixed in. Slowly add the sifted
    flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Scrape down the sides of the bowl
    with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth.
6) Add the sour cream, mix and add the chopped apples.  Do not over-mix.
7) Using an ice cream scoop, divide the mixture between the muffin cases
    filling to almost 2/3rds full. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until
    well-risen and a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Icing
1)  Beat the  butter until smooth and soft and mix in the cinnamon and
     vanilla extract.
2) Add the icing sugar in 2 halves, mixing in between. Add the cream
     cheese and mix until smooth and glossy. Do not over-mix.
3) Spread the icing over the cooled cakes using a palette knife or a metal
     spatula. You could choose instead to spoon it into a piping bag fitted
     with a large star shaped nozzle and pipe a swirl on each cupcake.
4) Decorate each cake with a small sprinkling of the baked crumble mix
     and simply enjoy!

I got rave reviews for this but also had lots of crumble mixture left over! It really is moreish and it's got apples in it - surely one of your five a day?! No? Oh well!