What Is Cassata Siciliana? The History of Sicily's Iconic Cake

If you've ever walked past a pastry shop in Palermo around Easter, you've probably seen cassata before you even knew its name. It's impossible to miss, pastel green marzipan sides, adorned with candied fruit on top, and delicate white icing piped into intricate lace details. It looks almost too elaborate to eat, and it's traditionally shaped in a round pan with sloping sides, a mold that's been part of the tradition for centuries.

Where the name comes from

The word cassata has Arabic roots, likely coming from qas'at, meaning a wide, round basin. And it directly describes the flared mold cassata is still traditionally made in today.

Researching the history of cassata can be quite confusing, because every source seems to have a different story. Some food historians argue that cassata was born more out of a fascination and love of sugar, since sugar wasn't cultivated in Sicily until the Arabs brought it to the island during the 9th to 11th century. Once sugar arrived, everything changed. The Arabs also brought with them citrus, pistachios, cinnamon, and almonds, just to name a few.

Perfected by nuns

By the Middle Ages, cassata had made its way into Sicilian convents, and this is really where the dessert as we know it began to take shape. Nuns across the island became famous for their pastry making, and cassata was far from the only thing they created, cannoli, cassatelle, and countless other beloved Sicilian sweets all trace back to convent kitchens.

The nuns of Palermo's Martorana convent in particular are credited with creating pasta reale, or marizpan, a fine almond and sugar paste dyed green, according to tradition, to replace the fruit they couldn't offer a visiting pope during a bare autumn garden season. That same almond paste, is used to make frutta martorana, those iconic marzipan fruits that fill the cases in Sicilian pasticcerie. And they used the marzipan to wrap around cassata's sides.

Cassata was originally considered a nun's confection, made specifically during Holy Week. There's even an official record stating that cassata was considered such an Easter temptation because the nuns wanted to make the cake instead of saying their prayers, so religious orders were restricted from preparing it before the holiday. Now Sicilians say it's not Easter without having a cassata.

The elaborate cassata we recognize today was later shaped by Palermo pastry chef Salvatore Gulì, who is credited with a more modern version. His cassata was presented at the 1873 Vienna exhibition, where he is particularly associated with the introduction of zuccata, a traditional Sicilian candied pumpkin. Candied fruit itself, however, existed in Sicilian pastry before 1873.

Two very different cassatas

Here's something worth knowing, there are actually two distinct versions of cassata.

Cassata al forno is the simpler, older version, sometimes described as the humble country version, just a sweetened sheep's milk ricotta filling, sometimes with chocolate chips, baked inside a pastafrola crust, Italy's version of a sweetened, egg-enriched pie dough.

Cassata siciliana is the elaborate, layered version most people picture, sponge cake, ricotta filling, marzipan, and candied fruit.

What actually goes into it

The modern cassata siciliana is built from a pan di Spagna, a light sponge cake, soaked in a simple syrup to keep it moist, sometimes spiked with a little liqueur, like rum. That sponge is filled with a mixture of sheep's milk ricotta, sugar, cinnamon, and candied citrus. It's the same prized sheep's milk ricotta traditionally used in cannolis, richer and more fragrant than cow's milk ricotta, and considered the real, authentic version by Sicilians. The whole thing is then wrapped in almond marzipan and finished with royal icing and candied fruit.

A Sicilian tadition

Cassata has been a fixture of Sicilian Easter tables for centuries, a dessert shaped by Arab sugar, the artistry of cloistered nuns, and generations of Sicilian tradition.