Sans Rival.

Ingredients

• 12 egg whites (set 12 egg yolks aside for buttercream)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 3 cups (plus a couple tablespoons for topping,) finely ground cashews

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line 4 – 8×12 inch pans with parchment paper. I also butter(or use shortening) and flour. The safer the better!
2. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites with whisk attachment until foamy. Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add 2 cups white sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form not hard but when you lift the whisk, there should be little peaks that point up and don’t fall)
3. Fold in 2 cups ground cashews. Divide meringue between the 4 pans, and spread evenly to edges.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, until light golden brown. The meringue needs to almost be crunchy. I tend to leave them in the oven for longer if I see that they’re still soft. Check the edges and bottom to make sure they’re not burnt.
5. Remove pans from the oven and allow them to cool. When cool, trim edges so that all 4 meringue layers are uniformly shaped. Set aside.

Part 2:  I use Classic French Buttercream recipe with less sugar.
-1 pound (2 cups or 4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp. (you probably won’t need it all)
-12 egg yolks
-1 & 1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup water
-Candy thermometer
-2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)

1. In mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks until thick and lemon colored.
2. In a saucepan heat water and sugar on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Heat until thermometer has reached 270 degrees, or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard but pliable threads.
3. Get a big bowl of ice water ready. Once sugar syrup has reached 270 deg., hold pot over ice water so it stops cooking. This helps you with not burning the sugar and this way you don’t have to rush over to the mixer to pour in the HOT syrup.
4. Pour the syrup into the yolks in a thin stream while mixing on medium speed. Pour just between the whisk and the side of the bowl.
5. Switch to high speed and continue mixing until the mixture is cool to the touch. You can also hand mix this over the ice bath.
6. It’s *important* that the mixture is cool to the touch before you put in the butter because this will help hold everything and keep the butter from melting and ruining the icing.
7. cut up 1 inch chunks of the butter and drop in the mix one at a time. You can switch to the paddle attachment for this. Beat in the rum.
8. Add buttercream to each layer of meringue and then outside like a  cake and sprinkle left over cashews for decoration.

Putting the sans rival in the fridge makes it taste even better!! Enjoy!