Ciokarrua Baked Sicilian Cassata
The original baked Sicilian cassata recipe “Tintu è cu nun mancia a cassata a matina ri Pasqua” …for us Sicilians, eating cassata on Easter morning is the ritual par excellence. Let's discover chef Simo's recipe Sponge cake 125 g sugar (unrefined) 125 g wheat flour (ancient Maiorca) 2 medium eggs 75 oil […]
The original baked Sicilian cassata recipe
“Tintu è cu nun mancia a cassata a matina ri Pasqua” …for us Sicilians, eating cassata on Easter morning is the ritual par excellence. Let's discover chef Simo's recipe
Sponge cake
- 125 g sugar (unrefined)
- 125 g wheat flour (ancient Maiorca)
- 2 medium eggs
- 75 oil (sunflower seed)
Ricotta Chantilly
- 500 g cow's milk ricotta (or sheep's milk if you prefer)
Sponge cake
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Roughly chop the BTB 75% chocolate on a board and pour it into a mixer. Grind finely and set aside.
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In the same mixer, blend the sugar to a fine powder.
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Using a stand mixer or an electric whisk, combine the eggs with the sugar, mixing until the two ingredients bind together.
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Add the flour, the milk, the oil, the baking powder and the previously chopped chocolate
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Mix all the ingredients to obtain a smooth, even batter.
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Pour into a buttered and floured tin and bake at 160° in a fan oven for 20 minutes (or 180° in a conventional oven). (Always do the toothpick test)
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Leave to cool and remove from the tin
Assembling the cassata
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1) Roll out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of baking paper, aiming for a thickness of about ½ centimetre.
2) Move the pastry onto a tart tin (28 cm diameter) using the same baking paper you rolled it out on. Prick the base with a fork.
3) Take the sponge cake you prepared earlier and cut it into two equal discs.
4) Place one of the two discs on the pastry and press down lightly.
5) Pour the ricotta Chantilly over the sponge cake and level it out with a spoon or spatula.
6) Place the other sponge disc over the Chantilly and press so that the sponge settles into the cream.
7) With the remaining shortcrust pastry, make strips of about 2 cm and lay them over the cassata, first in one direction and then in the other, evenly spaced, to form the classic “lattice”.
8) Bake at 160° in a fan oven for 40/45 minutes.
9) Leave to cool and serve.
