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Capturing the essence of a classic apple crumble, these Mini Apple Crumble Cakes are a delicious comfort bake to enjoy throughout Autumn! They feature a fluffy cinnamon sponge, topped with soft spiced apples nestled under a crunchy, buttery crumble topping. All cakes deserve a little icing, so finish the mini cakes with a drizzle of sweet maple glaze!

This recipe is part of my Mini Cake Recipe Series, featuring these Mini Cherry Bakewell Cakes and many more recipes!

Mini Apple Crumble Cakes with maple icing glaze

Recipe Overview

FLAVOUR: These Apple Crumble Cakes have a delicate and warming flavour. The sponge is buttery and lightly spiced. The apples are tart, sweet and infused with cinnamon spice. The crumble has a buttery, caramel-like flavour thanks to using light brown sugar.
TEXTURE: Moist and tender sponge sits beneath a layer of soft-baked apple and an extra crunchy crumble. The three layers together offer a delightful combination of textures!
SERVES: This recipe yields 12 individual cakes when using this mini cake tin.

Mini Cakes Baking Tin

We use a 12-hole mini cake tin to make these mini apple crumble cakes. It’s ideal for creating perfectly uniform mini cakes with tidy edges and no wasted sponge. Plus, it’s loose-based, making it easy to remove the cakes (more tips on this further down). Simply divide the mixtures evenly among the 12 holes of the baking tin and bake!

How to Make Mini Apple Crumble Cakes:

We layer three mixtures together to create these apple crumble cakes before baking them to golden perfection! Here’s a quick overview of how to make each part:

Spiced sponge: The base of these cakes is a soft, fluffy and tender sponge flavoured with cinnamon spice. We combine butter, sugar, eggs, flour, milk, and spices to make the cake mixture, which we then divide into the mini cake tin.
Apple filling: A delicious combination of chopped apples, cinnamon, brown sugar and water. Make the filling first and set it to one side, this allows time for the apples to soften and soak up the delicious cinnamon spice. Next, we spoon the apple filling over the sponge mixture.
Crumble topping: There are many ways to make a crumble mixture, some recipes contain oats, while others use almond flour. But I prefer to keep it simple with a mix of plain flour, brown sugar and cold unsalted butter (plus a pinch of salt). Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like chunky breadcrumbs. Then scatter it over the apple filling before baking the mini cakes.

Drizzle this Sweet Maple Glaze over the Apple Crumble Cakes

Cakes deserve a little icing, so elevate the cakes with this easy maple glaze! The rich and deep flavour of maple syrup perfectly complements the tartness of the apples and the warming cinnamon spice. To make the glaze, just stir the maple syrup, icing sugar and water together until it’s a smooth and thin consistency. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the apple crumble cakes, then tuck in and enjoy!

Mini Apple Crumble Cakes

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Prep: 45

Cook: 15

Total: 1

Servings:

Equipment

12-hole mini cake tin

Ingredients

For the cinnamon sponge:

180 grams Unsalted butter or baking spread room temperature
180 grams Caster sugar
2 medium Eggs room temperature
180 grams Self-raising flour
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg optional, but delicious!
1 tablespoon Milk whole or semi-skimmed

For the apple filling:

2 Granny smith apples
2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon Light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Water

For the crumble topping:

50 grams Plain flour
2 tablespoons Light brown sugar
30 grams Unsalted butter cold
Pinch Salt

For the maple glaze:

50 grams Icing sugar
1 teaspoon Maple syrup
1 tablespoon Water

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Start by making the apple filling:

Peel and finely chop the apples into small cubes. Place in a bowl with the cinnamon, sugar and water. Stir to combine then cover with clingfilm and microwave for 1-2 minutes until the apple has slighty softened and the mixture is fragrant.
2 Granny smith apples, 2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons Water, 1 tablespoon Light brown sugar

Prepare the crumble topping:

In a bowl, stir the flour, sugar and salt together until combined. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles chunky breadcrumbs. Place the bowl in the fridge.
50 grams Plain flour, 2 tablespoons Light brown sugar, 30 grams Unsalted butter, Pinch Salt

Now make the cinnamon sponge mixture:

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C conventional. Grease a loose based 12-hole mini cake tin with melted butter and dust with a thin coating of flour.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
180 grams Unsalted butter or baking spread, 180 grams Caster sugar
Mix in one egg at a time until combined. TIP: add 1 tbsp of the 180g flour with each egg to stop the mixture from curdling.
2 medium Eggs
Fold in the remaining flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk until the mixture is smooth and combined.
180 grams Self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon Milk, 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

Assemble and bake the mini cakes:

Divide the cinnamon sponge mixture evenly between the holes of the cake tin. Spoon the apple filling on top, then sprinkle over the crumble mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes until the mini cakes have risen and the crumble topping is golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes.
To remove the cakes, first run a knife around the outside of each to peel the sponge away from the tin. Then push them out from underneath and use a knife to remove the metal bases.

Finish with the maple glaze:

Stir the icing sugar, maple syrup and water together to make a smooth glaze.
50 grams Icing sugar, 1 teaspoon Maple syrup, 1 tablespoon Water
Drizzle the glaze over the apple cakes. Serve and enjoy!