SANS RIVAL CAKE

Sans Rival is a famous Filipino dessert cake made of layers of cashew meringue, with creamy buttercream and toasted cashews. Buttery, chewy, crunchy, sweet and salty. An extremely rich and heavenly dessert  that's not an ordinary cake. Usually served during special occasions. This cake can be covered with chopped toasted cashews or pistachios if you like. Best eaten when cold, just right out of the fridge. They look fancy and hard to make, but they it's actually pretty easy. To make this, you need at least a hand mixer. A wire whisk won't help because meringue needs a lot of beating. 

So, how do you make it round without using a cake pan to bake the meringue? It's simple. I draw circles on a parchment paper using the bottom of a 6" round pan as a guide. You can also use a bowl or anything that's round. In this recipe, I was able to make twelve 6" discs and made 6 layers on each cake which I ended up having two cakes total. You can also make one big cake. Prepare 8" meringue discs and make a taller cake. Rectangle will work as well. It's all up to you. Meringue is flexible. Just pipe it into your desired shape, bake at 275 for 50-60 minutes and voila they are ready! 

For the icing or buttercream, I combined butter and margarine and followed exactly what the recipe calls for a buttercream icing recipe shared by one of our guests in this blog. Michael shared his Sans Rival cake before, I've tried it in the past and then modified it today to reduce the amount of sugar. I love how the combination of butter and margarine fits perfect with meringue. But you can use all butter and omit the margarine if you like. Tips and notes were added below so that you can make this successfully. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Meringue

• 9 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 cup ground roasted and unsalted cashews

 Icing

• 9 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup water
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• chopped roasted cashews for decoration​

SANS RIVAL CAKE VIDEO

Procedure:

• Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until foamy. Add granulated sugar and beat on high speed until stiff but not dry. Fold in the ground cashew nuts. Add in 3 parts. Do not overmix. 
• Preheat oven to 275 F / 135 C.
• Prepare the pan. Use the bottom of a 6" round pan as a guide to draw circles on parchment paper. I used a 20" x 13" pan and was able to draw 6 circles. In this recipe, I made a total of 12 circles using two baking pans. 
• Pipe some dots of meringue onto the pan before lining with the prepared parchment paper. This will prevent the liner from moving out of the pan.  Make sure to place the parchment paper upside-down (ink down).
• Transfer the meringue into a piping bag and cut a few centimeters from the tip. Pipe the meringue using one stroke going around on each circle. Smooth the top with an offset spatula or scraper. 
• Bake in a preheated oven at 275F for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until top is golden. Remove from oven and cool completely. Do not detach while the meringue discs are warm. 

Prepare the icing:

• ​In a bowl. beat the egg yolks until thick and fluffy. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, boil together sugar and water over medium-low heat until threadlike or soft-ball stage at 240F. 
• Pour hot syrup into the egg yolks. Beat until mixture is cold.
• In another bowl, beat the butter and margarine until light. 
• Add the egg yolk mixture and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
• Carefully remove the meringue discs from the parchment paper. 
• Assemble the cake by filling the meringue discs with buttercream. Place on top of each other. 
• Spread more icing on top and sides of the meringue discs until the cake is fully covered with icing. 
• Cover the sides with chopped cashew nuts or decorate as desired. 
• Freeze or refrigerate for few hours. Best served with cold. Slice and enjoy! 
• Recipe yields two 6" round cakes. 
• Make sure to read my TIPS and NOTES below. 

TIPS AND NOTES

• What is soft ball stage and how to test? Soft-Ball Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 112 – 116 C (234 – 240 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. To test, using a clean spoon, carefully take a little of the syrup and drop it into the bowl of cold water. Leave to cool for a moment then pick up the ball of syrup. If it's pliable, sticky and can be moulded in your fingers easily, it has reached the soft ball stage.       ​​​​​
• Be careful when separating the eggs. Avoid a small streak of egg yolks or water mixed into the egg whites. The mixing bowl needs to be totally dry as well. If not,  the egg whites will take forever to beat causing a failed meringue. 
• Unsalted butter and margarine is being used in this recipe. You can omit the margarine and use pure butter instead. 
• ​If you draw the circles using a regular pen, make sure to place the parchment paper upside-down (ink down). Use edible pen if you have one. 
• You can use chopped pistachios to cover the cake if you like.
• I hope these tips help you make this cake successfully. If you have questions or have tried this recipe, comment section is available below. 

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​PRINTABLE RECIPE:

Sans Rival Cake