Cassata siciliana
One of Italy's most ornate cakes — tradition traces its Arab roots in the marzipan, the candied fruit and the sugar used as a building material. The construction is inverted: the cake is assembled upside down in a mould, the base and sides lined with sponge and marzipan, and the top, which becomes the base after turning out, sealed with a disc of cake.
Your own work in that: 55 min.
- Draining the ricotta 480 min
- Sponge 45 min
- Ricotta filling 20 min
- Lining the mould 30 min
- Chilling 180 min
- Icing and decoration 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneDrain the ricotta overnight
Line a sieve with muslin, tip in the ricotta and drain in the fridge for 8 hours. A fair amount of whey will run out. Undrained ricotta thins the filling and the cassata never sets — no shortcut gets around this.
Ingredients: 800 g ricotta · 220 g icing sugar · 100 g dark chocolate · 80 g candied peel · ¼ tsp cinnamon
Bake a thin sponge
Whisk the eggs with the sugar for 8 minutes to a pale, thick foam, fold in the sifted flour and salt with a spatula and bake 25 minutes at 175°C in a 24 cm tin. Cool and split horizontally into three thin layers — one for the bottom of the mould, one cut into strips for the sides, one for the closing disc.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 g sugar · 120 g plain flour · 1 pinch salt
Sieve the ricotta and fold in the additions
Push the drained ricotta through a fine sieve and beat with the icing sugar. Fold in the chopped chocolate, candied peel and cinnamon. Do not use a blender — it breaks down the curd and the filling turns runny instead of thickening.
Ingredients: 800 g ricotta · 220 g icing sugar · 100 g dark chocolate · 80 g candied peel · ¼ tsp cinnamon
Through a sieve, never a blender.Roll green marzipan into strips
Knead the marzipan with a few drops of colouring to a pale pistachio green and roll it 5 mm thick. Cut strips as tall as the mould. The colour should be pale — a vivid green looks artificial and misses the point of a cassata.
Ingredients: 400 g marzipan · 3 pcs green food colouring · 80 g sugar · 100 ml water · 1 pcs orange
Line the mould alternately
Line the mould with film, leaving plenty of overhang. Lay one sponge layer on the bottom — once turned out it becomes the top under the icing. Stand alternating strips of marzipan and sponge around the sides, tightly, with no gaps — that is the pattern visible on the side of the finished cake. Boil the sugar with the water, cool, add the orange juice and brush the sponge with this syrup.
Ingredients: 400 g marzipan · 3 pcs green food colouring · 80 g sugar · 100 ml water · 1 pcs orange
Alternating and tight — this becomes the side of the cake.Fill and seal with sponge
Spoon in the ricotta filling, level it and cover with a disc of sponge, pressing down. That disc becomes the base once inverted. Brush it with syrup and cover with film.
Ingredients: 800 g ricotta · 220 g icing sugar · 100 g dark chocolate · 80 g candied peel · ¼ tsp cinnamon
Chill at least three hours
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight. The filling has to firm enough for the cake to hold its shape once turned out. Invert onto a stand and remove the film — the sides should be smooth and show the striped pattern.
Ingredients: 800 g ricotta · 220 g icing sugar · 100 g dark chocolate · 80 g candied peel · ¼ tsp cinnamon
Ice the top and arrange the fruit
Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice, added gradually, into a thick pouring icing and pour it over the sponge top, spreading to the marzipan edge. Arrange the candied fruit in a symmetrical pattern while the icing is still soft, then leave for 25 minutes to set. This is how Palermo pastry shops traditionally decorate a cassata.
Ingredients: 250 g icing sugar · 1 pcs lemon · 200 g candied fruit
Icing on the top only, up to the marzipan edge.
Before you start
A sloped-sided mould
A classic cassata is made in a shallow mould with outward-sloping sides, so the turned-out cake is slightly conical. An ordinary springform works too, but unmoulding is harder — line it with plenty of overhanging film.
Sheep's milk ricotta
Sicilian cassata uses sheep's ricotta: assertive, faintly tangy and denser. Cow's milk ricotta is milder and wetter — drain it for a full twelve hours and taste the filling before adding all the sugar, as the milder cheese usually needs a little less.
Two days in the fridge
Cassata is better on the second day, as the syrup spreads through the sponge and the filling settles. It keeps two days but no longer: the icing starts dissolving from the moisture in the filling and the top loses its shine.
