“Life is uncertain. Eat cake first.” Ernestine Ulmer
When they say butter makes things better, I never rival the thought. Even though I try and keep the butter under check most of the time, give me an utterly buttery challenge like this Filipino Sans Rival Cake, and I’m all game. This sort of indulgence can only be good indulgence, and of the unrivaled sorts!I happily got Novembers DB challenge moving pretty soon as it was a cake, and this is my birthday month. Time to lavish myself with love, I would have normally reached for my jar of coffee and immersed myself in a coffee cake. This time though it was reason enough to change my mind as I love the window on other food cultures, and a Filipino dessert was truly something intriguing.
Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.“Sans rival” means “without rival” and any Filipino will argue hat this is true. Although it’s one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines, its origins are certainly French. In the 1920’s to 30’s there were many Filipinos who went abroad to study. A good number went to France and learned many French cooking techniques which they then brought home. A Sans Rival is made with layers of dacquoise, typically using crushed cashews, with very rich French buttercream frosting. The dacquoise is allowed to bake and dry to a crispy layer so that there is the crunch of pastry and nuts with the buttery, silky frosting.
I absolutely love the idea of crisp meringue and have baked quite a few before … Apple Brown Sugar Meringue Pies, Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake, Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse & Preserved Stone Fruit, Tropical Fruit Pavlova, Chocolate Meringue Strawberry Cream Slice, Chocolate Coffee Almond Meringue Cake … and now this challenge!A Sans Rival is traditionally made with cashews, and though I would have loved to go the cashew way, I had plenty of almonds and pistachios {my favourite nuts} on hand, so decided to use a combination of both. I also chose to stick to a non chocolate version, even though I was VERY tempted to make a chocolate buttercream.The dacquoise took the better part of the morning to make, what with laundry, kids at home and much more distraction than warranted, yet most of the hard work belonged to the oven. Did I tell you that parchment paper must be the best thing invented by man for bakers? I ALWAYS marvel at its properties, and of late, it is usually the only thing on my shopping list for folk visiting from overseas. It isn’t available locally here.This was an indulgent good cake and just seemed to get better with every nibble. The nutty meringue complimented the rich vanilla buttercream ever so beautifully and the meeting of textures was delicious. Once layered and rested overnight, the now slightly chewy meringue and the satiny vanilla buttercream created magic, the specks of vanilla adding to the beauty!
It was worth the effort and a wonderful birthday cake for me! We loved it and it got over pretty soon, despite the fact that it was rich and calorie laden! It was one of those cakes that must be made to experience the variety that the world of pastry and cakes might offer … a beautiful balance of taste and texture. It was a good birthday! The ‘not-so-terrible-anymore’ teen made me this beautiful picture as a gift, black and white in ink. She spent 3 days doing it, while the ‘now-beginning-to-get-terrible’ lad made me a ‘wired up‘ card, complete with a circuit and batteries, where the eyes lit up when you pressed the tongue, and wrote a little verse too! I gave myself a cookbook {read yet another cookbook} … One More Slice! I could do with one more slice of the Sans Rival now though … it was that good!
Sans Rival Cake is a traditional Filipino dessert. It has crisp layers of dacquoise {traditionally cashew} sandwiched with French buttercream.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Filipino
Keyword baking, cake
Servings 12people
Ingredients
Almond Pistachio Dacquoise
10large egg whitesroom temp
225gm white granulated sugar
1teaspooncream of tartar
190gm almonds
50gm pistachios
French Vanilla Buttercream
5large egg yolksroom temperature
225gm white granulated sugar
60mlwater
285gm unsalted butterroom temperature
1vanilla beanscraped
Instructions
Almond Pistachio Dacquoise
Preheat oven to moderate 160°C.
Draw 9″ circles on parchment paper.
In a really large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins.). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)
Fold in nuts, reserving enough to use for decoration.
Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread over the drawn out circles, evenly to edges. If doing batches, use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch. {I divided it oven 5 circles}
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.{Mine took almost 45-50 minutes as I baked 2 at a time} Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.
French Vanilla Buttercream
Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 235°F/112°C (or thread stage).
With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add flavoring after you beat in the butter. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.
Sans Rival Assembly
Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. {May freeze.}
Thank you Catherine for an outstanding daring challenge; it was a beautiful one, very fulfilling. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the gorgeous unrivaled cakes our other daring bakers have created!
