AudioProcessorEditor always sits on top of sibling components

I have a plugin host application that opens a plugin and displays it inside its window. What I'm finding is that no matter what I do, the VST sits on top of all other sibling components. I have a menu bar component at the top of my application that needs to sit on top of the child plugin editor because there is a couple-pixel shadow underneath it, that should be on top of the VST.

I tried using setAlwaysOnTop(true) on the menu bar, but the VST still sits on top. I also tried calling toBack() on the child plugin editor, but no effect.

What can I do to push the child plugin editor behind other sibling components?

You can't do anything to make that happen. VSTs live in their own window, so can't be interleaved with other lightweight components, they get layered on top. In older 32-bit builds on OSX they can even end up in separate floating desktop windows.