Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Sister's Baby Shower - Making of Desserts Part 1

Can I tell you that any event my family is involved in always becomes a big production? From food preparation, dessert making , floral arrangements, to outfit changes, we got it all to a tee. I don't mean to boast, but being surrounded by so many talented individuals is a bonus and indeed a true blessing. As we would always say that the success to every parties we hold is a combination of not only our talents, but most of all, the labor of love that we put into it. The outpouring love and support my family have for one another is what sets it apart. (Now you can say, "AWWW").
Before I get all emotional, let me get back to telling you about all the preparation that was done for my sister's baby shower. The first time my sister shared the good news with us that they were expecting, on the back of my mind, I knew had to start planning her baby shower soon. I immediately started brainstorming for ideas and looked around for inspirations from other blogs. My cousin, who is a corporate employee by day, but a true creative photographer, florist (yes, she did my wedding bouquet), and fashionista by heart, helped me brainstorm for cool ideas for the shower. We wanted to get the theme down before we could start planning the menu and decorations. Since my sister and her hubby kept mum on the gender of the baby, we had to come up with a nice earthy, unisex , and of course, a chic color combination. Orange, Brown, and White, that is! Mind you, we started planning as early as August. We wanted it to be perfect for her. And perfect it was!
So let me share the one of the most perfect desserts that our other cousin, who is a pastry chef from NYC made. I know, he had no break what so ever. He was already slaving in the kitchen for our Thanksgiving desserts. It was never ending baking on his part. We are truly grateful and somewhat spoiled because we cannot eat any mediocre dessert and not compare it to his creation. We are dessert snobs if I may say. Ha!.

One of the desserts that the mom-to-be requested was Sans Rival, a very popular dessert in the Philippines made with layers and layers of meringue, sandwich with a very rich butter cream filling, and toasted chopped cashews. Sans Rival, is actually a French word meaning wtihout rival. This dessert is very Filipino, but, with a similiarity to that of an Almond Dacquoise. This luscious decadent creamy dessert is not for the faint of heart. That's why it shouldn't be eaten on a regular but on special occassions where all calories are welcome:).


Meringues cooling off to be layered




Butter cream for filling


Sans Rival is finally coming together.





Toasted Chopped Cashews





This dessert gets better in time. The long it is left in the fridge, the chewier it gets. So good! I must say that I don't remember how many slices I consumed. The number on my weighing scale does not look good at all.

Stay tune tomorrow, I will post John's Chocolate Ganache Cake. Another to die for dessert!

Bisous,
Contessa



2 comments:

  1. oh we had sans rival for thanskgiving too last week! im still dreaming about it ;))

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  2. OMG, you really captured in your explanation the true meaning of "SANS RIVAL" and its french origin and Almond Dacquoise counterpart. well done!!!!

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