Mango Chiffon Layer Cake

 

One of the food favorites I sorely miss living here in the USA is the Philippine mangoes. The hybrid mangoes from Mexico are not as good both in flavor and texture but I buy them as substitute because I have no other choice. In the Philippines, mangoes are used extensively  in cakes and other desserts and what I can never find where I live is the mango chiffon layer cake. I searched for similar cakes in my area and all the cake shops have terrible and less than mediocre cakes, IMHO. Nothing can compare with Filipino cake bakeshops. I even tried the much loved Korean bakeries but they are also sub par. There are Red Ribbon shops but they do not deliver and the locations are too far from my house, about 7 to 8 hours to drive. No way!

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Sans Rival Cake

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.