apple streusel bundt cake...full of surprises...

this was absolutely delightful. it came about due to a sincere craving for something that tasted like my nana's apple pie but yet had a cinnamon swirl going through it. so I used dorie's double apple bundt cake recipe, with apple butter and grated apple in it. I omitted the cinnamon and instead hunted down a streusel recipe so that I could but the streusel in the middle of the cake. I found a recipe with butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. easy peasy! naturally I was extremely worried, as one always is with bundt cakes, that the streusel topping would stick to the pan and I'd be left with half a cake. thankfully though it came out pretty clean with only a bit of the skin missing. once it was iced with a vanilla bourbon glaze, it was ready to be delivered to the barbecue I was attending. the cake was delicious, however as it had only been baked that morning I feel it didn't have enough time to settle and the flavours to emerge. it also crumbled a bit, again I think in hindsight it would have been better to cook it the night before. the streusel swirl was delicious and gave a real intense kick to the cake. just wish I'd got a photo of the middle!

apple crumble cupcakes

these cupcakes were featured on All Things Cupcake in their weekly cupcake collection

i have decided to get involved in the Master Baker challenge for this month, which specifies that you must bake something with cinnamon. well, i don't know about you...but i love apple crumble...always have, always will. there's just something so comforting and warm about apples and cinnamons. so after searching for a recipe...to my shock and horror, there were none! how can the wonders of apple crumble not yet been captured in the shape of a cupcake? oh, well, never one to be phased by these things, i set about doing it myself. so what does apple crumble need? something apple-y, something crumbly and something vanilla to top it all off! and by that we have our ingredients already! so i went with an apple cupcake, a crumble topping and some vanilla buttercream icing. what a perfect combination, if i do say so myself! i'm gonna post the recipe for this one (as i am yet to find one already out there) and as you have probably noticed for most of my other cupcakes i don't. well basically that is because i am already using recipes that are out there and don't see the purpose of re-publishing them on my blog so people think they are my own. if they are, i'll publish them, ok? so here is what i came up with....

Cupcakes :

1 1/2 c. plain flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
1 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. butter
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1 c. grated apple

Crumble :

2 t. cold butter
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. plain flour
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Icing :

4 oz. butter
3 1/2 c. icing sugar
1 t. vanilla essence

For Cupcakes :

preheat oven to whatever works best for you usually. line cupcake pan with cases.
in your electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
sift together dry ingredients - flour, spices, salt, baking powder in a small bowl.
add dry ingredients alternating with milk. beat until smooth.
add in grated apple.
scoop batter into cupcake pan and top with crumble then bake for 20-25 mins.

For Crumble :

combine butter, flour, sugar and oatmeal in a bowl. toss gently until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. add walnuts and sprinkle on cupcakes.

For Icing :

beat butter in electric mixer until fluffy. add vanilla essence. then slowly add icing sugar one cup at a time or until reach desired consistency. pipe it on! devour!

ok, so final result...i really liked it. the crumbly topping tasted so good with the oatmeal in it and had a slight crispy-ness to it (but perhaps could have been more crispy), the cupcake was fine, it didn't rise as much as i expected (could this have been the crumble topping?) and the vanilla buttercream...well, that speaks for itself! it definitely captured the essence of 'apple crumble' so in that respect...mission a-cupcake-d!

sunday morning treat - french toast cupcakes

mmmmm, french toast...i just love french toast - especially in the morning and on sundays...it's absolutely perfect weekend comfort food. so what about french toast re-created in a cupcake. now that sounds even more perfect! so this morning i got up and got baking. i used a basic cupcake recipe with the addition of cinnamon (oooo, the smell of it baking in the oven was yummy-licious!) while the cupcakes were baking, i hunted for some maple syrup and found some secreted away at the back of one of my parents' many crammed cupboards - this was for drizzling down through the baked cupcakes. then i set to work on the icing. i had some cream cheese icing in the freezer that i took out to defrost and once ready, added some cinnamon powder to that too, which turned it a lovely...well...cinnamon colour! once the cupcakes were baked, i poked some fork holes into the cupcakes (which i think i did too soon because they hadn't cooled enough and later kinda broke up on eating) and drizzled maple syrup down through the cupcake (oh ya, remember to cut back on sugar in the cupcake recipe!) then topped with the cinnamon cream cheese icing and some little chocolate chews. wow! it has never felt so good waking up on a sunday morning. the taste was superb...just like french toast and little brother had eaten 3 before i even had time to finish icing the rest!!! i love lazy sunday mornings...coffee and french toast cupcakes...sublime!