ABOUT THE DISH

Filipino cuisine is filled with delicious dishes which are very much popular in their own region but some of them are not very widely known throughout the world. These dishes are equally tasty as the other ones and holds a dear place in the hearts of the Filipinos. The best way to end an dinner is with a delicious dessert. This ends the night with a great gesture and brings happiness to the people faces. There are many desserts which can be mentioned here but this dessert is one of kind. Sans Rival is an cake type dessert which is made by using meringues and adding buttercream over it as layer and then it is finished off by adding pistachios or cashew nuts over it. It is not a normal cake as normally cakes are soft but due to meringues this cake gets a crunchy texture which adds another dimension of flavor and complexion to the dish. This dessert has been very much famous for a long time and is the go to dessert for family gatherings and special occasions. These occasions can be birthday parties and family reunions. This dessert is also an historical dish which inspired many people and set a revolutionary trend in the food of the Philippines. Each Filipino who grows up and have a family of its own introduces this dessert to its family and speaks of it highly as it was a part of their childhood and now it will be a part of their children childhood as well.

MEANING OF NAME

Sans Rival is an French word which means “without rival“. This indicates that this dessert has no enemies and is loved by every single individual who has ever tasted this. This dessert has a French name because it is of French background . Details about this will be in the History section.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY

The first Sans Rival was made in the years between 1920 and 1930. Its background may be French but it was first made in the Philippines. It is said that in the early 1900’s many people from the Philippines went to Europe to study and look for jobs. They went to different countries and some went to France. After spending so much time there they got familiar with their style of food and once they came back they started to deploy those skills on the Filipino cuisine and then many French heritage dishes were made like Sans Rival. Sans Rival came as an idea through a French dessert named Dacquoise. This dish is very much similar to Sans Rival and the only major difference was that it had almonds on it but once this dish came into the Philippines people tried using those ingredients which were common to them and easily available at all times so that is why cashews were used.

There are many other sources which claims this dish to be of another different background. A journalist from the newspaper “The Philippine Star” whose name was Lucy Torres claimed that this dessert is taken from the Spanish dessert tarta imperial rusa which was also taken from a Russian cake famous at the times of the Russian Imperial Family.

SIMILAR DISH

There have not been many variations of this cake since its first appearance but some people tend to add different stuff to it to just enhance its flavors.