The Pandoro Cassata is an extraordinary dessert, a quick and no-bake reinterpretation of the traditional and famous Sicilian Cassata. Knowing that I was born and live in Sicily, and if there is a dessert that absolutely cannot be missing from our tables at Christmas and New Year’s, it is precisely the Cassata. I have only prepared the original once (I will make it again and publish the recipe for you, HERE you will find many of my quick variants, this is simple to make even if there are several steps, but I have included step-by-step photos that will surely be useful to you) and, for these holidays, I thought of preparing it in a more practical and quick way, without cooking anything, using pandoro (but panettone is also fine) instead of the classic sponge cake. Spectacular! The Pandoro Cassata is soft, fragrant, rich, colorful, and with a creamy filling of ricotta cream and chocolate chips, a triumph of flavors that will conquer everyone, your friends, relatives, and all your guests will give you lots of compliments, it’s a spectacular and truly delicious dessert, try it!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 24 cm mold
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Christmas
Ingredients
- 1 750 g pandoro
- to taste candied fruit
- 750 g ricotta (well drained)
- 150 g sugar
- 75 g dark chocolate chips
- to taste vanilla
- 100 g water
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tablespoon rum (or other liqueur of choice)
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 40 g water
Steps
The Pandoro Cassata is simple to prepare, first prepare the ricotta cream by mixing the well-drained ricotta with sugar and vanilla, then incorporate the chocolate chips (you can work the ingredients with a fork, as I did, if you prefer a more rustic cream, with beaters if you like it creamier, if you buy fresh ricotta, let it drain for a few hours before using it). Place in the fridge.
Prepare the syrup by dissolving the sugar in hot water and then adding the liqueur.
Take the pandoro, cut it into slices about 1/2 inch thick and remove the edges, we will only need the light part (with the leftovers you can prepare these recipes). Line a mold with plastic wrap and cut small pieces of pandoro to line the entire edge, covering all spaces, even with small pieces. Also line the bottom, if possible, with a whole slice of pandoro and some leftover pieces, if needed to cover small gaps.
Moisten the pandoro with a bit of syrup and add the ricotta cream with chocolate chips, level it well. Cover the filling with crumbled pandoro, moisten with the remaining syrup, close well with plastic wrap and let the pandoro cassata rest for at least 2/3 hours (even overnight, if you want to make it in advance, the day before).
Prepare the glaze by mixing powdered sugar with water and let it fall over the cassata that you have already unmolded onto a tray, distribute it also on the sides, it has to be completely covered, remove the glaze that may drip onto the tray.
Decorate the Pandoro Cassata with the candied fruit you prefer, I used pears, mandarins, figs, and cherries. You can also make royal icing for other decorations, I don’t really like raw eggs (in this case, the egg white), so I decorated the cake with the glaze I used for the coating that in the meantime has dried a bit, it’s not very stiff but it’s fine for making some small decorations.
The Pandoro Cassata is ready to be served or stored in the fridge.
Advice:
The Pandoro Cassata keeps in the fridge for 3 days. It can also be frozen. Instead of pandoro, you can also use panettone (it’s fine with raisins and candied fruit but without creams or other fillings). In the end, you will only need 250 g of pandoro, but you will have to take one of at least 750 g to have large pieces, net of scraps. With the leftovers, prepare one of these desserts, I used the leftover pandoro to make these truffles.
Want to make the savory version? Recipe HERE
For the classic Cassata recipe HERE
Other Sicilian recipes HERE
