Michelle’s apple "cupcakes"

My friend Michelle makes these excellent "cupcakes", using a variation on a recipe from Patricia Wells’s The Paris Cookbook. They’re really just batter holding together dark cooked apple slices.

• makes

  12

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 75 g (½ cup) plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 60 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 80 ml milk
• 1 kg (about 5) granny smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered, then each quarter sliced into 4

Topping

• 45 g unsalted butter
• 1½ tbsp honey
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp caster sugar

Serve in the patty cases. You will need a 12-hole (100 ml) muffin pan.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C and line a 12-hole (100 ml) muffin pan with paper patty cases.

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Whisk together vanilla extract, eggs, vegetable oil and milk in a second bowl until well combined. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a smooth batter forms. Add the apples and toss until well coated in batter. (Don’t worry if it seems like there’s not enough batter; you just need enough to hold the apples together.)

Using your hands, remove apples from batter and arrange in the cupcake cases, then spoon remaining batter over apples. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden.

Meanwhile, to make the topping, melt butter with honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Allow to cool to room temperature (enough so that the egg doesn’t cook when stirred in), then add the egg and sugar, and stir until a thick syrup consistency.

Remove cupcakes from the oven and drizzle topping over each cake. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown. Allow cupcakes to cool slightly before removing patty cases from pan, then place on wire racks to cool. They really are best eaten when just cool.

As seen in Feast magazine, Issue 10, pg38.

Photography by Alan Benson.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.