Cassatella di Sant'Agata

When ever I walk into a pasticceria I always admire all the beautiful sweets behind the glass counter... At home, I then enjoy creating my own sweet treasures. Profiterol, Torta di ricotta, Lo sfoglio Polizzano, Cuddura cu l'ova, and Hazelnut Biscotti are just a few delicacies that I found the inspiration from one of the many pasticceria siciliana. One dolce, that has been taking my fancy lately, is the Cassatella di Sant'Agata (cassatedda di sant'Àgata in dialect). The Cassatella is a traditional sweet from Catania that can be found in almost every bar during the festival of St. Agatha. The cassatella is in fact a small sicilian cassata (in catanese dialect, minnuzzi ri Sant'Àjita) in the form of a breast, to symbolize the martyred saint of Catania, St.Agatha, as her breasts were amputated. She is therefore often depicted iconographically carrying her excised breasts on a platter.
(Last year we attended the Festival of St. Agatha. Check out the amazing devotion the towns people of Catania have for her.)

The original Cassata captured many of the traditional Sicilian ingredients; the intense green pistacchio of Bronte, the perfumed almonds of Noto, and the many citrus fruits of the island. It has been an ongoing joke between me and my friends to find the perfect Cassatella, and this past weekend I decided to dive in and attempt just that, with the help of Mandi and Diana!

One very important ingredient is the Marzipan, pasta di mandorle. I made sure not to make it too sweet, often times I do not enjoy marzipan because of it's sweetness. I used more almonds and the taste of mandorle filled your mouth with flavor.

Pan di Spagne, a type of sponge cake, is the next ingredient that is layered into the mold after the marzipan. To achieve a light and fluffy cake, the egg and sugar mixture should be mixed no less than 20 minutes to create a nice frothy texture before adding the flour.

The principle ingredient in the Cassatella is the ricotta di pecora, fresh sheep's milk ricotta. Our nearby pastore, shepherd, passed by the night before and delivered a kilo for me. I added less sugar to the ricotta than when I make the Torta di Ricotta because of the sweet marzipan wrapped sound the filling.

The molds were then inverted and ready for the glasse di zucchero...

We then got a bit creative and made one VERY big one...

However, we added a few extra cherries...

What a day! We were so thrilled with the results, and so were all the lucky recipients who got a taste... Thank you ladies for the wonderful afternoon and the memories!