My daughter asked for the Filipino sans rival cake for her birthday. I don't make this often as it's unhealthy, eh all cakes are unhealthy. My recipe is from Pat Limjuco Dayrit's cookbook but changed some of the procedure. The cake is pretty easy to make although time consuming, cooking sugar to mix with egg yolk then has to be chilled for an hour before blending with the butter. I also leave the meringue in the oven (turned off) for another 2 hours to crisp properly, then I freeze the finished cake for at least 3 hours. This cake will stay crispy for about 5 days, I keep it in the freezer pre-sliced and ready to enjoy. This cake is of course French in origin (dacquoise). Most probably a rich kid from the Philippines went to France perhaps to study, came home, recreated this cake and named it gateau le sans rival.
Meringue
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1½ cups chopped cashew or almonds
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar gradually, continue beating. Fold in nuts and vanilla. Divide mixture into 4 - 5 very thin 9 inch rounds.* Bake in a 350°F oven until golden brown. Turn off oven, leave in the oven for total of 2 hours.**
*I do not bake these in cake pans. Using an 8 or 9 inch cake pan as guide draw 2 rounds with a pencil on a piece of parchment to fit a large cookie sheet without sides. You will need 2 to 3 sheets of parchment. Flip the paper so that pencil mark is facing pan. Using the round shapes divide mixture equally, spread and smooth with an icing spatula.
**After turning the oven off, leave meringue for 1 hour, remove from oven, touch the surface if dry, turn paper meringue side down on a clean surface and carefully peel paper. Turn meringue bottom side up, still on paper return to oven and leave another hour to dry. There, no more sticky meringue and it will turn out super crispy.
Filling
¼ cup water
2/3 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup chopped nuts
- Boil water and sugar until it spins a thread. Pour mixture gradually over well beaten egg yolks and continue beating until thick. Transfer to a bowl and chill in the fridge for an hour. Cream butter then add the well chilled egg mixture. Fill layers, sides and top of cake. Sprinkle nuts all over. I freeze mine for 3 hours before slicing and leave leftovers in the freezer.
Thank you very much for this recipe. My first attempt went really well and I was happy with the result, just like how I remeber my lola's was. Next time I would probably manually chop the nuts instead of using the food processor so it is chunkier and looks more attractive. This is my father-in-law's favorite and I made it for him. He was a tough customer, he said the merengue was supposed to be nougat-ier (I guess chewier?). I found his comment funny, It is probably because all the sans rivals he's had were this way. I prefer it just as it was and I think "drying" the merengue in the oven is a brilliant trick. I will be making more of this when I find the time!
ReplyDeleteNana, I have a friend who also likes chewy sans rival. When I sent her a small one for Christmas last year I told her to leave it for a day or two in the fridge before slicing and the sans rival became chewy. We prefer ours crispy and leave some slices to become chewy like nougat which is also very good.
ReplyDeletethank you for the recipe, i've been craving this for years :(
ReplyDeleteMy meringeus got stuck on the wax paper even with a heavily greased one, can you give me helpful ideas how to fix this? Thanks!
ReplyDeletei baked this for my hubby's bday. it was a success. thanks for the detailed recipe.
ReplyDeleteAnon@1/10/10, sorry for the late reply. I don't recommend waxed paper because it's rather thin. Parchment paper is best for this recipe. If the cake still sticks, put it back in the still warm oven for a few minutes and try again.
ReplyDeleteCharisse, you're welcome! I'm glad to know.:)
Wow can't believe I actually remembered the name of this "buttery, crunchy, nutty" cake my aunt used to make for special holidays. She never shared the recipe - thank goodness for the interet! This will be the next treat I make. thank you!
ReplyDeletew8liftnmom, there are a lot of unwritten recipes that are now available online, thank goodness indeed! Also, sorry for the late response.:)
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if I can use milk instead of water for the filling?
ReplyDeleteAnon, I haven't tried or seen a syrup made with milk probably because it will curdle if cooked over very high heat.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy I found this recipe. Thank you for sharing it. I just wanted to know what it means to "Boil water and sugar until it spins a thread". How will that look like?
ReplyDeleteA@7/22/10
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.:)
It means when you pour the syrup from a spoon it makes a 2-inch thread. Or you can use a candy thermometer and cook the syrup to 225- 230°F.
i'd like to try this one of these days... never have tasted one and im so curious.
ReplyDeletebtw, do you have a recipe for silvana?
tnx :)
iNg, this is the same recipe for silvanas and filling. Pipe or shape them into very small thin ovals or rounds. It's a very involved process, though.:)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for sharing the sans rival recipe someday i'm going to try this recipe, I had another recipe but I think this is easy.
ReplyDeleteHi. I made one last night. when i was baking the meringue, I dont know why the meringue was spilling over the p. paper and it was too thin that my cake ended up looking like a pie and not cake. :(
ReplyDeleteRoz, sorry to hear that. Maybe the egg whites were not beaten enough and too loose. This has never happened to me before so I can't tell what happened to your meringue shells. Have you tried making again? Hope the next one will be a success.:)
ReplyDeleteDear Oggi,
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks amazing! I've never tried a San Rivel cake before but my Filipino friend's said so many nice thing about this cake and she misses it alot! I wanna make her this and thanks for sharing your recipe! She mentioned that she likes the chewy sans rival, shall i take the Meringue out of the oven when its golden brown so that it doesnt get crisp up? Or shall I leave it in the turned-off oven for 2 hours and also leave the cake in the fridge for 1 or 2 days?
Belle xxx
Hi Belle, thanks.
ReplyDeleteRemove them from the oven when golden brown. Refrigerate the finished cake for at least 24 hours before serving.
tnx for posting this!will try it.do you have a recipe for napoleones?would really love to learn how to make it.
ReplyDeletehi oggie, i tried this sans rival and it came out perfect! i liked it chewy so to my eggwhites i added 1/2c of cake flour and 3/4 c eggwhites from a carton. I baked it for 15 min just until brown. i did not make it too thin neither. just so i dont waste my time cutting out parchment paper, i jz cut it as big as my cookie sheet. after taking it out of the oven, i used a pizza cutter & cut it in 4 equal parts (9in x 6 1/2). I was able to make 8 sheets of the meringue enough for a 2nd batch. tnx very much..ur my idol! i learn a lot!!!
ReplyDeleteMarie,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great! I'll try it next time I make. I sometimes like chewy sans rival. Thanks.:)
I've tried your recipe and it was a success!!! My husband as well as my friends liked it and they keep on asking for more. Thank you for this recipe.
ReplyDeletePlease post recipe of sylvanas too. it is also a favorite of mine. . thanks in advance.
I've been craving for this for many years....thanks for this....
ReplyDeleteOggi, thanks for sharing this recipe. I will try it hopefully soon.
ReplyDeleteI only have two questions: 1. You said to divide the meringue into 4-5 very thin 9 inch rounds. So I was thinking the parchment papers should also be 4-5 pieces (1 for each round)rather than 2 to 3 pieces only?
2. Where is the best place to get parchment paper. I don't think I have ever used that before.Thanks!
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteA piece of parchment can accommodate 2 rounds. I buy parchment from the grocery store at the baking products and pans aisle. Hope the cake turns out well.:)
Thank you for this recipe! I would really like to try it! I tried the one in the Maya Test Kitchen and was not really successful with it, more on the meringue part. Thank you also for giving credit to the French for this recipe. I am filipino but I truly understand where to give credit where it is due.
ReplyDeleteHi Oggi, thanks for the sans rival recipe, been craving this for a while now. I tried it today, the meringue's perfect (crispy and looked awesome), however, my filling doesn't look so creamy and I didn't even have enough to cover the sides. What do you think happened here? I thought I followed your instructions to the tee but I guess not, I might have done something wrong. You look like you had a lot of filling in between the meringue and was able to cover sides as well.
ReplyDeleteI also tried the candied kabocha since I have half of a squash, its marinating now in the syrup. Hope this one turns okay and would look like yours.
Thanks again and keep blogging.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteContinue to beat the buttercream until it's creamy. Yeah, the recipe sometimes is bitin. Since the time I made this cake, I spread very little buttercream that you could almost see the meringue. The links to the photos of sans rival I made a week ago are here and here. The buttercream layers are actually very thin.
Or you could add 1 whole egg to the yolks, ¼ cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon water to the syrup, and ½ cup more butter. Beat the egg yolks and whole eggs until very pale yellow before pouring the hot syrup. Hope this helps.:)
Thanks Oggi, will try it again. Even though it didn't have the buttercream on the sides, it was still awesome. Everybody loved it!
ReplyDeleteWill try it with the extra egg, etc as you suggested. I also want to try a lot of the recipes you have!
Thanks again and happy holidays (quite early but whatever, it's Christmas in the Philippines already LOL)
Hi. Thanks for sharing the recipe. When you say boil water and sugar, do I stir the sugar until it dissolves or do I leave it alone until I get the right consistency? Sorry I've never made syrup before. Thank you so much! Plan to make one this weekend! -Vivian
ReplyDeleteAmazing cake! I made this a while ago but i'm not sure if the dacquoise is supposed to be soft or crispy ('cos I'm not Filipino enough to tell). By the look of it, it should be soft but I really like it crispy! LOL... what's ur thought?
ReplyDelete@mary
ReplyDeleteMary, the meringue layers should be crispy. Leave in freezer [pre-sliced pieces] if you want the cake crispy but will eventually become chewy like nougat.
pls teach me how to make my meringue crispy and not overcook
ReplyDeletethanks so much for the recipe, we loved it!
ReplyDeleteI love sans rival!!! But I don't like the mess of cutting it up into pieces. Can the sans rival batter be molded and baked in shallow cookie molds? Do you know of anyone who can fabricate this if this cookie mold or cookie sheet is not available in the market?
ReplyDeleteDo you also know how to bake silvanas? I guess it only needs a little tweaking of the sans rival recipe...
@cynch
ReplyDeleteI don't know anyone who can make these shallow molds...muffin top pan comes to mind but you'll need several as it only has six indentations...they are also rather large for a single serving. Silvanas are made with the same batter and buttercream but waaay more labor intensive because you have to pipe individual meringue on parchment paper. I hardly ever make them.
Hi. I've been searching for parchment paper in the market but cannot find one. Can I, instead, make use of Glad Cook N' Bake baking paper? Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried the product but I think it's okay to use it for sans rival.:)
thanks for this recipe, quite easy to make, just time consuming. after baking the meringue at 165 for 10 minutes i found the top was dry already but the bottom was moist and parts stuck to the baking pape. tthus the need to peel paper immediately and turn it over on to fresh baking paper and back to the oven, to dry the bottom part. i like the recipe since both meringue and the buttercream is not too sweet.
ReplyDeleteHi i hope you have a video for this for amateur bakers :)
ReplyDeleteHi just want to thank you for this recipe. It was the simplest sans rival recipe i found online and the results came out beautifully. I didnt have a problem with the meringue sticking to the baking paper at all! I made four layers and cut down the butter to 3/4 cup (coz like you said, too much butter isn't too healthy ;p) but had enough to cover the entire thing. I posted it on my facebook page and a lot o my friends asked for the recipe so i gave the link to this page, hope you dont mind.
ReplyDeletehi, thank you for the tip for making the meringue. in thislifetime, i made sansrival twice. no matter what shape or form it came out from the kitchen, it was delicious. honestly, it was time consuming to make but imt was worth it. now that i saw your tip on the merengue, i guess it's about time i tried making one again. btw, just a question, does the hot syrup really cook the raw eggyolks? is it safe to eat, the egg might contain salmonella.
ReplyDeleteanonymous @1/24/13
ReplyDeleteI not sure if it does. I've used both grocery store and farmer's market egg yolks/whites using this process and never had any problems so far.
Hi! Thank you for this recipe. I tried it for the first time and it wasnt as successful as i expected. I monitored the ovens temp and tried to check from time to time but the sides were a little brown than usual. Maybe the sides were spread too thin? It turned out kinda bitter. Ay tips? Thanks!
ReplyDeletestumbled upon this blog as I was searching for facts about Sans Rival. Made this using my aunt's recipe she got from a relative who studied in France. Agree with many of the comments, a good Sans Rival should have a crunchy meringue.
ReplyDeletehow do i make the make meringue crispy???
ReplyDelete