This simple, tender cake lets the fruit shine through. It’s fine as it is, but the hot cream sauce is a good compliment and can be poured over slices as liberally as desired. The sauce adds a nice touch, making the cake even more special and memorable as it soaks up all that warm richness.

Ingredients: makes 8 servings

For kuchen:

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus butter for the baking pan
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup milk or light cream
• 3 to 4 Gravenstein or Golden Delicious apples
• 1 cup cranberries or firm blueberries
• Cinnamon sugar: 1 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For hot cream sauce:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter

Directions:

For the kuchen:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. In a mixer bowl or by hand in a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and egg together until the mixture is fluffy and lightened in texture. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients and the milk alternately to the butter mixture. Do not overbeat; mix just until the ingredients are combined Peel and core apples. Slice them into 1/4-inch wedges

Spoon batter into the pan. Press apple slices, about 1/4-inch apart and core side down, into the batter, working in a circular pattern around the outside edge (like the spokes of a wheel. Arrange most of the cranberries in a ring inside the apples and sprinkle remainder around the edges of the kuchen. Sprinkle kuchen with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the center of the kuchen comes out clean. Set on a rack to cool briefly, or let cool to room temperature.

For the hot cream sauce:

Combine the cream, sugar, and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat (to reduce the chances of scorching or boiling over) and let sauce simmer for 5 to 8 minutes, to reduce and thicken slightly. Serve hot sauce with the kuchen.