Harvest Apple Cranberry Cake – Anthony Salemme

By Anthony Salemme, contributing chef

Serves 10

After going to the farm stand in North Scituate I bought way too many apples. With the recent chill in the air, I was craving this apple cake my Mom used to make.

4 large apples – peeled, cored, and cubed

3 ounces dried cranberries

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 ounces butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cup  sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla  

1 egg

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup oatmeal

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8” spring form pan with butter.

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add sugar and keep stirring until it starts to turn golden, then add the apples and dried cranberries. Cook for 7 minutes; add lemon juice and then remove from heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.

Combine remaining butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl; beat until smooth and creamy. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add 2/3 of flour mixture to butter mixture. Add remaining flour and oatmeal mixture and mix in by hand to make a crumbly dough.

Transfer 1/2 the dough into the prepared spring form pan and press down to create a bottom crust. Add apple chunks, leaving a small space around the edges. Crumble remaining dough evenly on top.

Bake in the preheated oven until streusel and crust are lightly browned, about 50 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Run a knife around the edges to loosen. Carefully transfer to a serving plate or cooling rack.