Gluten Free Apple Crumble Cupcakes
You have to make my Gluten Free Apple Crumble Cupcakes!! The sponge is hint of cinnamon and they’re topped with a velvetty rich, cinnamon buttercream, apple sauce and gluten free crumble. What’s not to LOVE?!
I bet many bloggers wouldn’t say this… they say a picture speaks a 1000 words but I have to be honest, this picture doesn’t do these beauties justice haha 🙂 You need (1) to be in the room to get the full impact because they smell insane!! and (2) to taste the perfect combination of light, fluffy sponge but the sweet apple crumble flavours we know and love.
It looks like there’s quite a few components but its super duper easy. You can whip up the cupcakes in about 10 mins, crumble in 5 mins, buttercream in 5 mins and then you can buy the apple sauce from any supermarket.
Ingredients
The ingredients for my Gluten Free Apple Crumble Cupcakes are all very simple! Here’s a bit more info and substitutions if you need them:
1) Gluten Free Flour
- Cupcakes: Ideally you need self-raising for the cupcakes. If not, add 1.5 tsp of baking powder to the plain flour.
- Crumble: either plain or self raising will work.
- Brand: I like Doves Farm FREEE
(2) Light Brown and Caster Sugar
- Caster sugar replacement: White granulated sugar would be fine too.
- Light Brown sugar replacement: You could swap for golden caster sugar. If not, you can use more caster sugar but it will result in a less caramel tasting cupcake.
(3) Icing Sugar – no other options here I’m afraid!
(4) Stork Block
- The block of Stork in the picture below is the best if you can get it (you want the one that comes in 250g foil block, NOT a tub, and it says “biscuits and pastry” on the front)
- Stork is naturally dairy free too!!
- If you can’t get Stork:
- You can buy alternative brands but it has to be a vegetable oil based block. Make sure the ingredients states “vegetable oil” (usually 75%). The packet will likely say something like “baking block for biscuits”.
- Don’t substitute with a block of real butter e.g. Lurpak (which is made of milk, not oil) because the results will be very different!!
(5) Flora – this is my preference for making cakes and buttercream as it makes them light and fluffy and is naturally dairy free but of course you can replace it for any of your preferred brands
(6) Egg – I’m yet to try other options but I’m told flax eggs, chia or even more apple sauce can work! Will try them asap and update this guide 🙂
(7) Apple Sauce – I have chosen to buy this from the supermarket to make it easier (condiments aisle). The supermarket options are also delicious and I’m yet to find one that contains gluten. You can pick from smooth/with apple pieces to suit your taste.
(8) Cinnamon – you can use any apple spice mix you like! You could add in some nutmeg or all spice too.
What size cupcake cases have you got?
You can band case into 3 sizes, usually labelled on the box as “fairy”, “cupcake” or “muffin”. You can make delicious cupcakes with any of these sizes! This section will help you to adjust the ingredients quantities and cooking times accordingly
| Size | Quantities Required for 12 Cakes | Cooking Time |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Fairy Cases – tiny! Fits about 1-2 tsp of cake mix | Divide all of the cupcake ingredients by 2 (e.g. 4 eggs -> use 2 eggs) Divide all of the topping ingredients by 4 (e.g. 400g icing sugar -> use 100g) | 8-10 mins |
| (2) Cupcake Cases – the regular ones Fits 1 heaped tbsp of cake mix | As per the recipe below | As per recipe below |
| (3) Muffin Cases – big! Fits 2 heaped tbsp of cake mix! | Times everything below by 1.25 (e.g. 4 eggs -> use 4 x 1.25 = 5 eggs) | 20-23 mins |
Want to have a “core” in your cupcake?
If you want to have a “core” in your cupcake (i.e. take out the middles and fill with choc spread/jam or whatever you fancy), I recommend muffin cases as they’ll give you plenty of room for your filling without risking the cupcake falling apart!
Gluten Free Apple Crumble Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 225 grams Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour
- 190 grams Caster Sugar
- 35 grams Light Brown Sugar
- 225 grams Spread - I recommend the Flora above – see "ingredients" in the blog post
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon - 1/4 tsp gives a slight hint of the flavour – you could increase this if you are a cinnamon lover to 1/2 to 3/4 tsp
Buttercream
- 160 grams Spread - I recommend the Flora above – see "ingredients" in the blog post
- 350 grams Icing Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- Small jar of Apple Sauce
Crumble Topping
- 90 grams Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour/Plain Flour - whichever you have to hand!
- 60 grams Stork
- 45 grams Light Brown Sugar
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 180oC (fan)
- Place 12 cupcake cases into your cupcake/muffin tray
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter & sugar until fully combined.>You’re looking for the mix to be paler, smooth & creamy! I use an electric whisk for 1 min.
- Crack all the eggs into aseparate bowl & beat together until just starting to froth up, like the picture. > Takes 5 seconds. You can use the electric whisk for this too.
- Add the flour, eggs and 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the butter/sugar. Whisk together until JUST combined (10 seconds).>Don’t over whisk, otherwise you’ll lose the air bubbles & your cake won’t be quite so fluffy!
- Scrape right around the sides of the bowl to pick up any excess flour. Give the mixture one final whisk, making sure you reach right to the bottom of the bowl and everything is fully combined.>Still try not to over whisk! 5 seconds at most.
- Place 1 heaped tbsp of the cake mix into each cupcake case.>I find its best to do this using two spoons – one to scoop up the mix and the other to scrape it into the cupcake case.>Each case should be about 2/3rd full.>GENTLY level each of them out slightly, so the cake mix is spread around the case quite evenly. Try not to get too much around the top 1/3 of the case (this is just to make your end result look extra neat!)
- Place the cupcakes into the centre of the oven. Bake for approx 17 mins>If, like me, your oven is hotter at the back/front, you might want to very quickly rotate your cupcake tray around halfway during the cooking time to give an even bake. >WARNING: Do that quickly and don’t open the door again otherwise you’ll risk your cupcakes not rising properly. >How do you know if they’re ready? You’re looking for them to be firm on top but springy to touch and a knife/skewer poked into the middle of the cake should come out relatively clean!
- Once cooked, leave the cupcakes in the tray for 5 mins to cool and firm up slightly. Then transfer to a cooling rack.
Make the Crumble
- Place a piece of baking paper on a baking tray.
- Place the Stork and sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the flour and whisk again. >It'll look very floury but if you keep whisking, it'll go from a floury mess to breadcrumbs! There should be no white flour showing by the time you've finished this stage, it should be all mixed in
- Use your hands to press the mix together a little. >As you can see in the pic, I made a couple of rough balls and also still had some crumbled mix at the bottom of the bowl
- Crumble the mix over the baking tray.>Ideally you want lumps of all different sizes – some still in crumbs and some larger bits.
- Place into the oven for 7 mins, or until browning. >This can go into the same oven as your cupcakes, just be very quick when you oven the oven door and put the tray in so the oven doesn't lose any heat!
- Leave the crumble to cool completely on the baking tray.
Butter Icing
- Add the butter, icing sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to a bowl. Whisk until smooth. This will take at least 2 mins.>It should look like the second pic – thoroughly mixed together, pale and fluffy! The first one hasn't been whisked enough because you can still see bits of icing sugar. Its also still quite yellow.
Construction – Do not attempt to move onto this stage until the cakes are completely cool
- Pipe a small circle of butter icing onto each cupcake>It's going to be topped with apple sauce and crumble so you dont want too much butter icing otherwise its messy to eat!
- Add around 2 level teaspoons of apple sauce to the top of the buttercream
- Sprinkle each of the cupcakes with crumble.
- EAT!!!!
