Cassata is a layered cake of sponge, sweetened ricotta, candied fruit, marzipan, and fondant icing that is one of the most extravagant desserts in Italian (and indeed European) pastry. The name derives from the Arabic qas'at (the round bowl in which it was originally formed). The dessert was developed in Palermo's convents during the Norman period (11th–12th century), where Arab confectionery techniques (sugar work, marzipan, candied fruit) were practiced by nuns who had inherited the knowledge from the Arab cooks displaced by the Norman conquest. The irony is extraordinary: an Islamic culinary tradition preserved inside Christian convents.
A pan is lined with thin slices of sponge cake (pan di Spagna) soaked in rum or maraschino liqueur. The cavity is filled with a ricotta cream (fresh sheep's milk ricotta beaten with sugar, sometimes with chocolate chips, candied orange peel, and pistachios). More sponge is laid on top, the whole is refrigerated until set, then turned out and covered in marzipan, white fondant icing, and elaborate decorations of candied fruit.
- **Sheep's milk ricotta only.** Cow's milk ricotta is wetter, grainier, and lacks the sweet, complex character of sheep's milk. This is the foundational ingredient distinction. - **The marzipan is almond paste, not commercial marzipan.** Sicilian marzipan — made from Avola almonds blanched, ground, and mixed with sugar — is a different product from industrial marzipan. The almond flavour is more pronounced, the texture finer, the colour more ivory than yellow. - **The candied fruit must be hand-candied.** Industrial candied fruit (those neon-coloured cubes) has no place on cassata. Properly candied citrus peel, cherries, and pumpkin — preserved in sugar syrup over days — are translucent, intensely flavoured, and beautiful.
ITALIAN REGIONAL DEEP — THE FIVE KINGDOMS