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| Sans Rival Cupcakes |
No, we’re not talking about Sans Rival Cake, we already made it here. We’ll be talking about its mini-me version, the Sans Rival Cupcake.
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| Sans Rival Cupcakes |
Have you heard about the French Dacquoise? Yes, this Sans Rival is very much like that but this version is more chewy and crisp.
To those who are not familiar with Dacquoise, it is a crisp meringue made with finely chopped cashew nuts and folded into the mixture before baking.
Then, you piped into shapes and baked in a low-temperature oven until crisp and layered with buttercream.
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| Sans Rival Cupcake |
Thank heavens you have dropped by the Bake Happy blog today because you are all in for a treat, we’re going to Sans Rival Land today, and once you’ve tasted these cupcakes, you are no longer missing one half of your life.
Want to see how the inside looks like? Creamy icing, layers of crisp meringues, loads of nuts. It’s like all you have ever dreamed of and more.
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| Sans Rival Cupcake |
I always crave for sans rival for my birthday, so I made a Sans Rival cake made of layers of cashew studded meringue with the most buttery of all buttercreams.
Though I could hear my waist screaming, I can’t hear it for now. This super-rich cake will be a perfect cake to welcome more cellulite.
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| Sans Rival Cake |
Are you ready to make some?
For the Meringue Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup ground almonds
- ¼ cup sugar
- ⅔ cup egg whites
- 1 tsp egg white powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- ⅔ cup+ 2 tablespoons sugar
- ⅔ cup chopped cashew nuts
- ¼ cup flour
Directions:
① Let’s start by placing ⅔ cup egg whites in a bowl, egg white powder (available in your friendly local baking suppliers stores) and cream of tartar.
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| Egg Whites + Cream of Tartar |
② Get your trusty old (or new) mixer and mix the egg whites in high speed. Once it’s foamy (or frothy), like below, add 2 tablespoons sugar.
③ Once soft peaks form, add in the ⅔ cup sugar gradually. Mix until stiff peaks form. How do you know if you’ve achieved stiff peaks? Turn it upside down (some even turn it upside down over their head). If nothing falls off, you’re good to go to the next step.
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| Stiff peaks form |
④ Combine ¼ cup sugar and almond meal. Almond meal is the same as almond flour which is the same as ground almonds.
⑤ Fold it into the egg whites. Combine flour and chopped cashews. Essentially we coat the cashews in flour to make sure the cashews won’t settle on the bottom of the batter.
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| Combine the Almond Flour |
⑥ Fold it to the batter like we do the almond meal. Ta-daaahh!!! Sans Rival batter is now ready to be piped.
⑦ Now, go get some cookie sheets and line it with parchment paper. I used a round cookie cutter that’s two inch in diameter and traced circles in the parchment paper. Turn it over so the pencil markings won’t get on the cookie.
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| Pipe Circles on the Parchment Paper |
⑧ Using a piping bag with a large round tip, pipe circles on the parchment paper. Place your piping tip just ¾ inch above parchment paper and press until the batter reaches the lines of the circle then release.
⑨ Flatten the cookie so you’ll have pretty meringues but this is totally optional.
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| Bake the mixture at 225 F |
⑩ You will make around 60 cookies from this recipe. Bake them at 225F for 45 minutes or until the meringue dries out.
⑪ Or alternately, you can pipe them on cupcake cups but make sure to place cupcake liners so you can easily remove them. Either way works fine.
For the ButterCream
Sans Rival Icing
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 14 egg yolks
- 2 ½ cups unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup chopped cashew nuts (for decoration)
Now, this is where I get nervous, this is where the recipe went wrong the first time I made this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe.
Directions:
① Separate some eggs and place 14 eggs yolks in a bowl. (What 14?! Yes, we need this much because this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe needs more icing than the usual Sans Rival Cake.)
But you’re welcome to reduce it to half or ¾. It’s just that the proportion is just enough to pipe and decorate 20 cupcakes.
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| Egg Yolks |
② Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Let it boil. Make sure to have a candy thermometer on hand as we need this to make the icing.
③ Once the thermometer reaches 220F, start mixing the egg yolks at a high speed. This is very critical, once the sugar mixture reached 240 F, pour it over the egg yolks (with the mixer still on, okay?) in a stream (like water in a faucet). Mix well.
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| Candy Thermometer reaches 220 F |
④ Once mixed well, turn off the mixer and let the icing cool. I actually just put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes or so until it’s slightly cool. This is very important. You don’t want to add butter to a hot egg yolk mixture or the world will end. Just kidding, icing might just not come together properly.
⑤ Once it’s cooled down, now’s the time to add the butter. Add it in small batches.
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| Fluffy, Creamy Buttercream |
⑥ Beat the icing until smooth, creamy and fluffy. There will be a phase where everything seems not to mix readily. Not to worry, this will pass.
⑦ It will be ready once the icing is really smooth. And by the way, I give you permission to lick the sides of the bowl. Enjoy!
To Assemble:
① To assemble, I used candy cups. Place cookies on the base. Cover it with icing and then nuts.
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| Assemble the Meringue in Candy Cups |
② Then add another layer of cookie… then icing, then nuts.
③ When you add the third cookie, you must have reached the top.
④ You can now play around with the design of the cupcake. I covered it icing with a flat finish.
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| Covered with Icing |
⑤ I don’t actually have a description for this photo. I just love looking at it and I want to post the picture because I find it pretty. I hope you do, too.
⑥ Now, add chopped nuts to the sides. On top, I piped a shell border and finished it with a cashew nut topping.
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| Add Chopped Cashew Nuts on the Side |
There you have it, Sans Rival Cupcakes! I actually find making this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe quite challenging but the result is oh sooooo worth it! This recipe is a keeper. You can take my word for it. Pinky swear.
Now all you have to do is sip your tea and nibble on these cupcakes. Enjoy!