Fedora cake from Catania — the original Sicilian ricotta cream cake, with sponge cake and toasted almond flakes, part of the great family of Sicilian cuisine and grandmother’s recipes. On dessert buffets for events, the Fedora cake is always present and loved by everyone: weddings, baptisms and birthdays. If you love Sicilian desserts, you absolutely must try the Fedora cake, certainly less famous than the baked cassata or the traditional cassata and the cannoli, but it is also a historic and impressive dessert. Rich in ricotta cream and chocolate pieces, skillfully used to fill and cover a perfectly soft and moist sponge cake, the Catania Fedora Cake is a dessert to fall in love with. A cake for special occasions, scenic, elegant and delicious, with its toasted almond flakes and tasty filling, it may not enjoy the fame of its better-known counterparts, but it is just as good and especially famous in Catania and its province. Little is known about its origins; surely heir to the cassata and many sweets created in convents, it may have been born to use up leftover ricotta. Now let’s run to the kitchen to prepare it together — I’m sure you’ll love the Fedora cake, which is also very easy to make. Before you start, if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here), my Instagram profile (here) and here you’ll find many delicious Sicilian ricotta desserts..
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make the Fedora Ricotta Cake
- 2 eggs (large)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 packet vanilla sugar)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3.5 lb sheep ricotta (fresh)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 oz dark chocolate
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- to taste orange zest
- 3.4 fl oz Strega liqueur (or limoncello)
- 3.4 fl oz water
Tools
- Mixer
- Baking pan
- Oven
- Spatula
- Piping bag
- Parchment paper
- Sieve
Steps to make the Fedora cake
Prepare the sponge cake. Beat the eggs with the sugar until you obtain a fluffy, frothy mixture. Add the sifted cornstarch and then the sifted flour.
Add the baking powder and the vanilla extract and mix. Pour into a 10-11 in pan lined with parchment and bake at 356°F for about 25 minutes; perform the toothpick test before removing from the oven.
Now prepare the ricotta cream. You will need a dry, well-drained ricotta, so start from at least 3.5 lb of fresh ricotta. Gather it in a cotton cloth, make a bundle and place it on a colander inside a bowl. The drier the ricotta, the better the result, so refrigerate and let it drain for at least 12 hours, replacing the cloth if it becomes too wet or placing it on another cloth.
To the well-drained ricotta add the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and very finely grated orange zest and mix. Pass the ricotta through a sieve two or three times; the orange zest may get caught in the sieve mesh but it will have already released its essential oils, so don’t worry.
Divide the sponge cake into 2 layers. Place the first layer in the pan you used to bake it, set on a round of parchment paper, and moisten it with half of the soaking syrup made by mixing water and limoncello or water and Strega liqueur. Spread a little more than half of the ricotta cream over the sponge layer,
sprinkle with chocolate chopped with a knife (or with chocolate chips), cover with the other layer and moisten with more of the soaking syrup.
It will not be necessary to use all of the syrup; adjust visually according to the level of moisture you want the sponge cake to reach.
Let rest for 2 hours in the fridge, then invert onto a cake plate and evenly cover with the reserved ricotta cream. For precise movement use a cake spatula.
Cover the entire cake with toasted almond flakes.
For toasting the almonds you have two options. You can plunge skin-on almonds into boiling water for a couple of minutes, then peel them and bake them for 10 minutes at 392°F (conventional), watching carefully so they don’t burn but only take on color. Once cooled, chop them with a knife and use.
Alternatively — and this is my preferred method — buy almond flakes at the supermarket and toast them for about 5 minutes (a little more or less) in a hot oven at 392°F, stirring often until they take on color.
Whichever method you choose, never use the almond flakes while they are still hot; let them cool completely.
To decorate the cake, keep a little of the cream aside and pipe it directly onto the cake with a piping bag, adding a pinch of chocolate to contrast the little rosettes.
The Fedora cake keeps in the fridge, well covered in an airtight container, for 2 days.
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