Small round teapot made by Tatsuya Hattori. I could not resist its cute appearance a few years back. The surface of the teapot feels like suede. The tiny pastel cups, very much like eggshells, were made by a young nordic ceramicist Saara Kaatra.

The cream and crisps do take a bit of extra effort but I think it is worth it. The apple crisp is like candy. And the cream, good enough to eat on its own, not sickly sweet or fatty.

Caramelised apple cupcakes


Caramelised apples
4 apples
40g sugar
20g butter

Cake batter
120g flour
120g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
40g butter
120ml milk
1 egg

Old fashioned butter cream
200g butter
2 heaped tablespoons of flour
100ml hot milk
vanilla paste
70g sugar

Apple crisps
apple slices
citric acid
sugar
water


First, prepare the apples. Peel them and cut in half. Now, you can shave a slice off each half, for the apple crisps, but if you've got more apples than just four then you can do it later. Carve out the cores. Put about fourty grams of sugar and twenty grams of butter into a saucepan and let it melt.

Then turn the heat up a notch and place the apple halves into the butter caramel, let bubble for about five minutes then flip the apples over and let the other side caramelise as well. Set aside.

For the cakes, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and butter until it resembles wet sand. Then add the milk and combine gently.
Whisk the egg lightly in a separate bowl before adding it to the batter.
Divide batter between eight regular size (5cm bottom dm) muffin cases. Slide apple pieces into the batter and bake at 180C for 20 to 25 minutes.

For the apple crisps, shave extremely thin apple slices from the centre of a firm peeled apple. It is best to use a mandolin slicer or some other slicing machine. In a small saucepan combine two parts water to one part sugar with a pinch of citric acid.
Let it come to a simmer and cook the apple slices in this simple syrup for a good five minutes before laying them on a sheet of baking paper and drying in the oven at 110C for 2 hours.

For the butter cream, melt 100g butter in a saucepan, add two heaped tablespoons of flour and mix until combined. Heat 100ml milk in the microwave and then gradually pour onto the roux, whisking to prevent any lumps. Now add a teaspoon of vanilla paste and two-thirds of the sugar.
Let it cook for about five minutes, until it thickens. Set aside and cover. It has to cool down to add the rest f the butter.
Cream the other 100g of butter with the remaining one-third of sugar and mix into cooled down cream.

Fill a pastry bag with the cream and place in the fridge to make it harden, buttercream needs to chill after a day at work. Pile a good amount of cream on top of every little cake and garnish with an apple crisp. If you have any caramel sauce left over, then drizzle it on top.