The Cassata is a typical sweet of Sicilian pastries. Created to celebrate Easter festivity after the Lenten sacrifices, its use has become common throughout the year. Its decor is baroque and sumptuous and its derivation is actually of Arab origin: its name derives from the Arabic word “Quas’at” which means large and round bowl. The richness of its ingredients reflects the nature of the Saracen cooking, who loves to harmonize conflicting tastes like sponge cake filled with ricotta cheese mixed with sugar, vanilla, chocolate chips, candied fruit and liqueur (preferably rum or maraschino).

Ingredients:

1 Sponge Cake
Almond paste

Ingredients for the stuffing:
Cinnamon
100 gr of dark chocolate chips
100 gr of candied fruit into cubes
50 gr of peeled pistachios
800 gr of ricotta cheese (with sheep’s milk)
3 tablespoons of rum
2 packets of vanillin
500 gr of icing sugar

Ingredients for the icing:
Water
Icing sugar

To decorate:
Whole mixed candied fruit

Preparation:

Make a Sponge cake and let it cool. Iit would be better to prepare it a day before so that you can cut without crumble too much. (Look at the Sponge cake recipe. )

Strain the fresh ricotta cheese, with a wooden spoon, incorporate the icing sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and rum liqueur. Work the mixture until you obtain a smooth and soft creamy.
Now add to the cream the chocolate chips, pistachios and candied fruit cut into small cubes.

Prepare the almond paste of green color.  (Look at almond paste recipe)

Cut the sponge cake horizontally, making four disks.

Coat a high-sided pan with greaseproof paper, and put a first disc of sponge cake on the bottom; coat even the sides with pieces of sponge cake and green almond paste, cutting them of the same size and alternating them (for the sponge cake use one of the four slices that you previously cut). Use the cheese cream or apricot jelly as adhesive on the greaseproof paper.

Pour into the pan half of ricotta cream then cover with another slice of sponge cake. Repeat the operation with the other remaining cream and close with the last slice of sponge cake.
Put the mold in the refrigerator.

When the cake will be cold remove from the refrigerator, remove it from the mold, overturning on a plate and cover it entirely with a white icing prepared by combining water with the icing sugar and mixing until you get a thick but runny consistency.

Let the icing harden and decorate the Cassata with candied fruit.

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