Grandma’s Sicilian Cassata recipe, the recipe for ricotta cassata with marzipan (marzipan). We’ve made many Sicilian ricotta desserts, from the baked cassata to cannoli, through cassatelle di ricotta and Minnuzze di Sant’Agata, but ricotta cream desserts in Sicily are truly many and the most famous is certainly the Palermitan Sicilian cassata. Cassata comes from the Arabic quas’at, “bowl”, or from the Latin caseum, “cheese”; it is a traditional Sicilian cake made with sheep ricotta, sponge cake, marzipan and candied fruit. It may be the most famous dessert from our region and there are several variations depending on the province of origin; however they all share ricotta, candied fruit and marzipan, with decorations more or less baroque but always elegant. Cassata is a very ancient preparation and in tradition it was the Easter dessert, rich and sumptuous to compensate for Lenten fasts, but now it can be found in Sicilian pastry shops all year round. I recommend trying it: the preparation may be a bit long, but in the end the result will reward you and you’ll really receive compliments from everyone! Before going to the kitchen, I want to add that in my recipe I used marzipan made with almonds, much less expensive than the pistachio marzipan, which is at the base of the original cassata recipe.
Are you ready to go to the kitchen? Follow me, I will explain everything step by step, and if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here). Read the recipe in English: Traditional Sicilian Cassata cake

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Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 1 Day
Portions: 10 people
Cuisine: Italian

Sicilian Cassata Recipe: Ingredients

120 cup All-purpose flour
120 about 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Granulated sugar
3 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Baking powder
800 about 3 1/4 cups Sheep's ricotta (well drained)
100 about 1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
50 about 1.75 oz (about 1/4 cup) Chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chopped with a knife)
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
as needed Limoncello (or Strega for the soaking syrup)
as needed Water (for the soaking syrup)
400 about 14 oz Marzipan (green)
500 about 18 oz Fondant sugar (fondant) (or homemade glaze)
Candied fruit

Tools

Oven
Bowl
Spatula
Baking pan
Mixer
Piping bag

Preparation

To make the cassata, buy fresh ricotta the day before preparing the dessert and leave it in the refrigerator to drain for at least twelve hours or longer. The next day you can use it.

Prepare the sponge cake. Beat the eggs with the sugar until you obtain a frothy mixture. Add the sifted flour.
Add the baking powder and vanilla extract and mix.
Pour into a 10–11 inch (26–28 cm) pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 356°F (180°C) for about 25 minutes; do the toothpick test before removing from the oven.
Work the ricotta with a fork or, if you prefer a silky texture, pass it through a sieve several times. Add the sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and chocolate chips (traditionally small diced candied fruit would be used, but the cassata can be cloying for contemporary tastes, so the dark chocolate variant was created).
Mix well but gently until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Generously dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan on it; try to roll an intact, flawless sheet about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick, no more.
Dust the surface with more icing sugar, roll it around the rolling pin and gently unroll it onto the pan, covering it so that the side touching the pan is well dusted with sugar; otherwise you won’t be able to unmold the cake.
Once the marzipan is fitted to the pan, divide the sponge cake into three layers. Place the first layer on the bottom of the pan lined with marzipan, with the spongy side up and the crust against the marzipan.
From the middle sponge layer cut strips to line the sides of the pan. Soak with a syrup of liqueur diluted with water and fill the cake with the ricotta mixture.
Level well and cover with the last sponge layer. Sprinkle with a little more syrup, cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
I assembled the cassata the night before; the resting time allowed the cake to firm up.
After resting, invert the cake onto the serving plate and get ready to frost it.
For the glaze you can proceed in two ways:
– Make a homemade glaze by quickly whisking together confectioners’ sugar with a very small amount of water (about 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar and roughly 2 tbsp water), until you get the right consistency that allows the glaze to cover the cake without sliding off completely.
– Purchase fondant (fondant sugar) from a bakery supplier and gently melt it on the stove with a tiny amount of water.
In both cases pour the covering over the cake and work quickly.
I tell you honestly that to obtain a perfect, thin glaze it is better to use fondant.
Fondant glaze sets quickly; the one made with sugar is a bit slower. Once set you can decorate it as you like with candied fruit.
The cassata is ready to be eaten; it keeps in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.