what has my crumble topping melted away?

[virgiltracey]

Is it the length of time I cooked it for or did I maybe use too much butter?

oops I meant "why?"

Was it burned on top? Generally I bake at 200c, but you only need to bake a crumble until the topping is golden and the stuff beneath is bubbling which obviously depends on what kind of fruit you've got underneath - soft fruit will take less time to cook.

In terms of butter all I can tell you is what I usually use: I generally make crumble in a dish that's about 30cm x 20cm and use the following quantities (this makes a very buttery crumble topping that's a bit like a deconstructed pie crust) - combine in a bowl and mix until small and large lumps form, then stick in the fridge till needed.
165g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar
zest of one lemon
100g unsalted butter, melted

If you like it with a crisp crunchy topping that has oats in it, I've used Nigel Slater's apple crumble topping in the past and it worked fine, he says about 30min at 200c for a crumble using bramleys. I've just noticed it actually uses more butter than the one above, which I already think of as extremely buttery!

No it wasn't burned. It was delish but the underneath was runny. Everyone asked for second helpings but it wasn't quite as planned!

Well at least it tasted great and everyone loved it! When you say "the underneath" do you mean the underneath of the crumble topping, or the fruit below?

If you used fruit with a lot of water content (especially things like berries) it can help to mix the fruit with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch or flour, to help the juices thicken up and the crumble stay on top rather than sinking into a liquid pool of fruit.

Letting it cool for a bit instead of serving it straight out of the oven helps it thicken as well and has the added bonus of not serving your guests the equivalent of molten lava (this is from painful experience!).

Sounds like your fruit was too runny & the crumble has sunk/fruit has bubbled over the top.

As long as it tasted good that is the essential part though [cgrin]

it was rhubarb, apple and strawberry and so the fruit was quite runny. The top of the crumble was fine but the bottom was runny (sort of like the consistency of honey). It was lovely though. I have been asked by the DSs to make another!!