Remove cream covering minute appetiser's top (9)
I believe the answer is:
eliminate
'remove' is the definition.
(I know that eliminate is a more specific form of the action remove)
'cream covering minute appetiser's top' is the wordplay.
'cream' becomes 'elite' (as in the cream of the crop).
'covering' indicates putting letters inside.
'minute' becomes 'min' (abbreviation).
'top' suggests taking the first letters (in a down clue, the first letter is top).
The first letter of 'appetisers' is 'a'.
'min'+'a'='mina'
'elite' placed around 'mina' is 'ELIMINATE'.
(Other definitions for eliminate that I've seen before include "Do away with, remove" , "Do away with, get rid of" , "Take out" , "Cut out" , "Eradicate" .)