How to Bake Cassata Cake

Serves: 12

Preparation time: overnight

Cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients needed to make Cassata Cake:

For the cake:

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 5 eggs
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup cold water

For the filling:

• 2 ox mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 ¼ cups icing sugar
• 2 lb whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

For the rum syrup:

• 2 tbsp light rum
• ¼ cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar

For the frosting and decoration:

• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 cup almonds, toasted and sliced
• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin

Cooking instructions for Cassata Cake:

• Spread a double layer of moist cheesecloth onto a fine-mesh sieve and place the ricotta cheese into it.
• Set the strainer on a bowl and wrap the cheese with the cheesecloth.
• Leave in the fridge overnight and throw away the whey which drips into the bowl.
• Place the strained ricotta cheese in the canister of a stand mixer, along with icing sugar, a splash of vanilla, ground cinnamon as well as chocolate chips and beat them with its paddle attachment at low speed, until they blend thoroughly.
• Scrape it out into a bowl and cover its surface with a cling film.
• Leave in the fridge to chill.
• Meanwhile, warm up your oven to 325 degrees F and butter a couple of 9’’ cake tins.
• Sprinkle some flour into them to coat lightly and set aside.
• Place the measured flour in a bowl and stir in salt as well as baking powder until well combined; keep it aside.
• Separate the eggs and reserve their whites.
• Place the egg yolks in a clean bowl of the electric mixer and beat thoroughly for about 4 minutes or until they break down to form thick, pale yellow mixture.
• Stir in the cold water gradually until well combined and incorporate the sugar into the mixture similarly until it dissolves.
• Whisk in vanilla extract and fold in the dry mixture in batches, while beating it into the blend after every addition until all of it is used up to form a smooth batter.
• Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a separate bowl until they form stiff yet moist peaks and fold it into the cake batter gently until mixed properly.
• Tip half of the batter into each prepared pan and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until baked through.
• Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes to let them cool while still in the pan.
• Flip them onto a wire rack and set aside until they cool down to room temperature.
• To make the syrup, heat a mixture of water and sugar in a small pan over moderate flame until it starts boiling.
• Reduce it to a simmer and continue to cook the mixture, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves to form thin syrup.
• Turn off the heat and allow to cool completely.
• Whisk in the rum until well combined and set aside.
• Slice the cake horizontally into 4 equal layers and place the bottom layer into a cake plate.
• Smother its surface with the rum syrup and spread a cup of filling over it.
• Top it up with another cake layer and repeat the process until all the cake layers are stacked up.
• Stir gelatin into cold water and set aside for about 5 minutes.
• Cook in the microwave briefly for about 10 seconds or until the gelatin dissolves and give it a nice stir to mix well.
• Beat the cream and icing sugar together until they form soft peaks and stir in the gelatin mixture.
• Continue to beat the mixture until they form stiff peaks and spread it over the surface and sides of the cassata.
• Decorate with sliced almonds and serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons