| Twenty-three chefs who cooked for world | | | | my father married Edith Kennedy in 1977, and |
| royalty and heads of state (The Club des Chefs | | | | which Edith's family had been enjoying long before |
| des Chefs) were, during their 1987 visit to the | | | | that? Her daughter, Lorenelle Doll, who gave me |
| U.S., wined and dined with the best our finest | | | | the recipe, says that it was a favorite of my |
| chefs had to offer. What impressed them most? | | | | father and Lorenelle's husband Arnie. (So far as I |
| Lunch at an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, where | | | | know, Edith didn't actually feed any to a French |
| they ate homegrown new potatoes, string beans | | | | chef.) |
| with cream sauce and corn, charcoal-grilled | | | | I like to think Edith's version is better than Betty |
| chicken, and baked ham, washed down with | | | | Groff's, because that recipe says to "frost with |
| homemade root beer and peppermint tea, served | | | | vanilla or chocolate frosting if desired." Whereas |
| by the family in a barn lined with handmade quilts. | | | | Edith's gives a recipe for chocolate frosting MADE |
| They were stunned. Happily so, it seems. The | | | | WITH BUTTER. And in my view the humblest |
| chef for the president of France said, "Cooking | | | | frosting made with butter is better than the |
| has evolved so much. Nobody presents the true | | | | fanciest frosting made without. I'm not implying |
| product as it is, and all of a sudden we were | | | | that Edith's frosting is humble. It isn't. It's purely |
| presented that." | | | | wonderful, as is her cake. |
| But the desserts impressed them most. Especially | | | | Edith Kennedy Glidewell went to be with her Lord |
| one they couldn't name. One they described as a | | | | in March 2002, but before that she gladdened |
| light "pain d'epices" (spice cake) with a layer of | | | | many hearts in many ways, this applesauce cake |
| chocolate filling. Gilles Brunner, chef to Prince | | | | not the least of them. |
| Rainier of Monaco, was so taken with the cake, | | | | EDITH'S APPLESAUCE CAKE |
| which he described as a chocolate gingerbread, | | | | Cream together 1/2 cup room temperature |
| that he tried to get the recipe. His request was | | | | butter or shortening and 1 cup sugar. Add 1 egg |
| refused. | | | | and beat together. Mix in 1-1/2 cups applesauce. |
| The Amish family did not want their identity | | | | Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 |
| revealed, which refusal greatly hampered efforts | | | | tsp. soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. |
| to identify the cake as well. Research by Phyllis | | | | allspice, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. cloves. Add |
| Richman, then food editor of the Washington | | | | to applesauce mixture, along with 1 cup raisins and |
| Post, seemed to show that the mystery dessert | | | | 3/4 cup chopped walnuts. |
| was Amish applesauce cake with chocolate | | | | Lightly oil a 9" x 12" pan and dust with flour. Add |
| frosting, and the Post printed a version of it | | | | the cake mixture and bake at 350 degrees 50 to |
| contributed by Betty Groff, a cookbook author | | | | 60 minutes, until the top of the cake's center |
| from the Pennsylvania Dutch country. | | | | springs back when touched. Frost with chocolate |
| Which applesauce cake turned out to be pretty | | | | frosting when cool. |
| much what our family had been enjoying since | | | | |