I really hope this second Easter out of the ordinary finds you well.
For company on these homey days, I offer you our family recipe for cassata, the typical Sicilian holiday dessert, a baroque triumph of colors and flavors.
The best at making it at home is my cousin Fabrizia and so the recipe here is really hers and Aunt Anna Tasca Lanza’s from Regaleali!
Legend has it that around 1200, a Sicilian shepherd one night mixed fresh ricotta and sugar or honey and named this delicacy after the Arabic name for bowl: quas’at.
It is reported that as early as 1575 cassata was proclaimed an official Easter dessert by the diocese of Mazara del Vallo, which, in order to avoid temptation, forbade the monastic orders from preparing it during Lent.
The glazed version garnished with candied fruit, which traces the sweets of the Baroque era, dates back to the late 1800s.
It makes one cheerful just by looking at it and spreads a festive scent in the air with those intense colors of almond and pistachio paste and sugar icing and more glossy, those of candied fruit, the tangerines, pears, cherries and those transparent strips of candied pumpkin called angel hair here, delicious!
And if you realize it, I would love it if you would tell me about it.
INGREDIENT for 10-12 people
For the sponge cake:
6 eggs, room temperature
150 gr sugar
1 teaspoon of orange or lemon zest
150 gr flour, sifted
3 tablespoons limoncello or Grand Marnier
For Marzipan:
350 gr of almond flour
150 gr pistachios,
200 gr icing sugar
1 teaspoon glucose
green food coloring
For the Ricotta Cream Cheese:
1kg ricotta cheese
200 gr sugar
For Glazing:
370 gr of powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon, filtered
Candied fruit, for garnish
PROCEDURE
> For the sponge cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
Butter and flour a baking pan 22 cm in diameter.
Put the eggs in the bowl of a mixer and beat them for 10 minutes.
Add the sugar and lemon zest and continue to whisk until the mixture spins as you pour it in, it will take about 15 minutes.
Gently combine the sifted flour, in two or three batches.
Pour into the hinged pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake remains dry.
Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
> For the marzipan:
Mix almond flour, ground pistachios and sugar.
Make a fountain and add a teaspoon of glucose, 2 tablespoons of water and a few drops of food coloring. Mix the ingredients until you have a smooth dough and spread it out on a work surface dusted with powdered sugar.
Cut it into long slices, about 1.5 cm thick.
Roll out three of the slices into strips between 1 and 2 cm thick.
Form a ball with the remaining marzipan and wrap it in plastic wrap. You can store it in the refrigerator for later use.
> For the Ricotta Cream Cheese:
Mix the ricotta and sugar in a bowl using a spatula until the mixture is smooth.
> To assemble the cassata:
Line a 22-cm cassata pan or a 22-cm cake pan with slanted sides with cling film. Arrange the marzipan strips along the inside edge of the pan, by slightly overlapping the ends.
Press them against the baking sheet to form a smooth layer.
Cut the sponge cake into 1- to 2-inch-thick disks, discard the edges, and cut into slices.
Arrange a layer of sponge cake slices on the bottom of the baking dish, drizzle them with limoncello or Grand Marnier.
Spread the ricotta cream evenly over the layer of sponge cake.
Carefully place another layer of sponge cake slices on top of the ricotta cream and again drizzle with limoncello or Grand Marnier.
Turn the cake upside down onto a large serving plate.
Carefully lift the pan and peel off the plastic wrap.
Set the cassata aside and in the meantime prepare the icing.
> For the Icing:
Sift half the powdered sugar into a bowl.
Add half of the lemon juice.
Mix well any lumps.
Sift the remaining sugar over it and gradually add, while stirring, the rest of the lemon juice until it has a thin, spreadable consistency and forms a smooth, glossy glaze.
> For the glaze:
Icing the top of the cassata, leaving the marzipan sides of the cake visible.
If you do not use green marzipan, frost the entire cake.
And finally, decorate the cassata with whole and cut candied fruit.
Place the cassata in the refrigerator and let it rest for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.
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