Sans Rival Cake, the Queen of Philippine Cakes

Sans Rival is a Filipino layer cake made of nutty meringue, usually cashews and butter cream. Sans Rival means without equal. The layers of textures and flavours of this cake is indeed without equal. There’s chewiness from meringue, crunch from the toasty cashew filling and the custard creaminess of French Buttercream. One bite and you’ll agree that there’s nothing like it, it’s sans rival! It’s the ambrosia of Cake Mythology.

If you try just one dessert from the Philippines, let it be the Sans Rival. If I’m in Manila, I get my sans rival at Conti’s. Another favourite spot for this Filipino classic is at Delize by Jill Sandique. Their pretty pistachio covered version is the perfect balance of meringue, nuts and buttercream. Over here in Sydney, you can only get sans rival at Filipino shops ( and I have yet to find one that I truly love), which is why even if it’s fiddly, I make it for very special occasions. By the way, this cake is also gluten free.

While making sans rival is not difficult, it does require a little bit of patience. You need to bake the meringue nut layers ( 5 altogether), fill it with chopped nuts and buttercream and finish it off with more icing and a sprinkle of more nuts. For this cake, I prefer French buttercream, the creme de la creme of buttercreams , because it is stable and it has that silky custard like taste. By all means, you can use any other type of buttercream like Italian or Swiss if you prefer.

Ingredients for Sans Rival

• Cashew – You need good quality toasted cashews. It should taste rich and nutty. You can buy cashews raw and roast them yourself or you can get unsalted and roasted ones. If you don’t like cashews you can substitute it with peanuts or any other nuts.
  In this recipe, half of the cashews is ground and is used in the meringue and half is crushed to used in the filling. I would love to use pistachios for the whole cake, but it’s a little bit spendy, so I just use it as garnish.
  
• Butter – For this cake it is important to use the best butter you can get your hands on. French buttercream is predominantly butter and egg yolks and the quality of butter is reflected in the taste.
  
• Eggs – This cake needs a lot of fresh room temperature egg whites for the meringue. Some of the egg yolks make their way into the French Buttercream
  
• Sugar – Caster Sugar
• Good quality Vanilla Paste or Essence
• ‘Pistachios for Garnish

How to Make Sans Rival

Cashew Meringue:

The meringue here has ground cashews folded into the egg whites before baking in a slow oven. Make sure the mixing bowl and whisk are scrupulously clean(no fat) so you get the stiff peaks happening.

Meringue Layers:

• Use a food processor to chop half of the cashews finely, like the texture of coarse ground almond meal. See above photo. Use the pulse setting in quick bursts or you’ll end up with cashew butter. Crush the other half of cashews coarsely, for filling and garnish.
• Whip egg whites until it forms into white shiny peaks. Add sugar 1 tablespoons at a time, whipping after each addition.
• Fold the ground nuts carefully into egg whites.
• Trace 9 inch diameter circles into 5 pieces of baking paper. Use the bottom of 9 inch baking tin as template. You need 5 circles to make 5 meringue discs. Spray baking paper with oil, so meringue does not stick.
• Use a spoon or a small angled spatula to spread a thin layer of meringue into the drawn template. This recipe makes 5 meringue layers.
• Bake in a slow 93°C for 45 minutes to an hour or until the meringue circles are golden and dry.You should end up with 5 nut meringue discs.

French Buttercream :

French Buttercream is the creme de la creme of buttercream. The egg yolks gives the buttercream the golden yellow colour and gives it the distinctive custard taste. A candy thermometer is handy to determine the soft ball stage of the sugar syrup.

• Place egg yolks and eggs in a mixer with whisk attachment. Whisk until pale and fluffy.
• While eggs are whipping, heat sugar syrup to soft ball stage (116°-120°C).
• Slowly pour the hot syrup into the side of the mixing bowl unto the eggs in a steady stream. The syrup will cook the egg yolks like a custard. Continue whipping the egg sugar mixture until it has reached room temperature. Add salt and vanilla. The mixing bowl should be cool to touch, before adding butter.
• Use the paddle attachment for the next step. Add chunks of butter one at a time , mixing well until incorporated.
  

Sans Rival Assembly :

• Place one layer of the meringue disc in the cake platter you are using. Spread a thin layer of buttercream evenly on the top. Sprinkle a tablespoon of crushed cashews on top of buttercream.
• Repeat with the other four meringue discs. So you end up with a stack of meringue,buttercream,crushed nuts times x 4 with a fifth disc on top.
• Use the remaining buttercream to coat the sides and top of the cake.
• Use the rest of the crushed cashews on the side of the cake and to sprinkle on top. I used slivers of pistachios here for a pop of colour
• Cover and store in the fridge for at least an hour, so the cake will firm up. The cake is also easier to slice when cold but is best served at room temperature.

Cake Sans Rival

Recipe by acmowlaiCourse: Desserts/Sweets, Holidays, Pinoy FavouritesCuisine: FilipinoDifficulty: Medium

Servings

16

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Sans Rival

Ingredients

• Cashew Meringue

• 1 cup roasted unsalted cashew nuts

• 8 egg whites
  

• 1 cup caster sugar
  

• French Buttercream

• 400g butter, cold diced

• 1 cup caster sugar

• 6 egg yolks plus 2 whole eggs

• 2 teaspoon of vanilla paste or essence , 1 teaspoon of salt
  
  
  

• Assembly
  

• 1 cup roasted unsalted cashew nuts, crushed coarsely
  

• Slivers of pistachios for garnish,optional

Directions

• With 2 teaspoons of caster sugar, in a food processor pulse 1 cup of the roasted cashews or whatever nuts you’re using, until fine, the texture of almond meal. Set Side. Preheat oven to 200°C.
• Carefully separate egg whites from the yolks. Reserve 6 yolks for the buttercream. Place egg whites in mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk egg whites until foamy. Add caster sugar a tablespoon at a time while continually whisking until stiff peak forms and look shiny.
• Fold the ground cashews from step 1 into the egg whites.
  
• Use the bottom of a 9 inch diameter baking pan to trace circle unto baking paper. You need 5 to form the 4 layers. Place baking paper on baking trays. You might be able to fit 2 discs per baking tray depending on the size of your oven. Spray baking paper with oil. Divide the egg white mixture into the five circles in the prepared baking paper. Spread meringue up to the edges of the circle. Repeat for the other 4 discs. You should now have 5 meringue discs ready for baking. If you prefer, you can use a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle to pipe the meringue discs into the baking paper.
• Reduce oven temp to 100°C. Bake the meringue discs for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Use a spatula to loosen the meringue disc from the baking paper straight away. Cool meringue on wire racks. If your oven does not fit the five meringue, you can bake them in batches.
• French Buttercream
• Beat reserved 6 egg yolks and 2 eggs until pale and fluffy.
• Meanwhile, dissolve 1 cup of caster sugar in 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan . Cook on medium high until it reaches soft ball stage at 116 to 120°C. Remove from heat.
• While eggs are beating, drizzle the sugar syrup (from step 2) into the beaten egg yolks little by little until you’ve used up all the sugar syrup. Continue beating until it reaches room temperature. The bowl of the mixer should now be cool to touch. Add vanilla essence and salt.
• Drop the cubes of butter one by one, beating well after each addition until all the butter is incorporated into the egg mixture. Make sure the egg yolk sugar mixture is cool when you do this step or you’ll end up with melted butter. The finished buttercream should be creamy and silky and of spreadable consistency.
• Sans Rival Assembly:
  
• Place one meringue disc in the serving plate. Spread a thin layer of buttercream up to the edges of the meringue. Sprinkle a fifth of the crushed cashews on top of the buttercream evenly. Repeat for all four layers to make a stack – meringue,buttercream,crushed cashews then the final meringue disc layer.
• Use the remaining buttercream to ice sides and top of the meringue. Place more crushed cashews on the sides and sprinkle some on the top. For this cake, I used slivers of pistachios for a pop of colour.
• Cover with a plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, to firm up. The cake slices better when cold but should be eaten at room temperature. Maybe stored in the freezer and then brought to room temperature when ready to serve.

Notes

• Store covered in the fridge. The cake is best sliced cold, but served at room temperature