Cassata

Cassata

Alternative names	Cassata siciliana
Place of origin	Italy
Region or state	Sicily
Main ingredients	sponge cake, fruit juice or liqueur, ricotta, candied peel, chocolate or vanilla filling, marzipan, icing
Variations	Cassata a forno (in oven), cassata catanese

Cassata or Cassata siciliana is a traditional sweet from all areas of Sicily, Italy, born in Palermo. Cassata consists of round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices or liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese and chocolate chips (which is also the cannoli's filling). It is covered with a shell of marzipan, pink and green pastel colored icing, and decorative designs. The cassata is topped with candied fruit depicting cherries and slices of citrus fruit characteristic of Sicily. Cassata may also refer to a Neapolitan ice cream containing candied or dried fruit and nuts.

It is claimed that the Sicilian word cassata did not derive from Arabic qashatah ("bowl"), as is often claimed, but from caseata ("cheese concoction"), according to John Dickie, who observes that cassata did not even signify a dessert until the late 17th century and did not take on anything like its current striped green-and-white form until the 18th century. "Cassata" he finds, "is the subject of an invented tradition based on the claim that its roots lie in the Muslim Middle Ages. Many other local food traditions purport to be as old."

However, its Arab origins are generally supported. The Arabic name al-Qassāṭỉ (Arabic for 'cassata-maker') is first mentioned in Corleone in 1178 and cassata is believed to have been first made in its elementary form in Palermo during Muslim rule in the 10th century. The Arabic word qas'ah, from which cassata is generally believed to derive, refers to the bowl that is used to shape the cake.

Unlike the round, traditional shape some cassata are made in the form of a rectangle, square, or box. It may be noted that the word "box" in Italian is cassa, although it is unlikely that the word cassata originated from this term.

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