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For over 1,000 years, the preparation of this typically Sicilian dessert has evolved according to the local produce, enriched by products developed by the Romans or introduced to the Italian island by the Arabs and Normans. Initially based on sweet ricotta, cassata's flavors are enhanced with citron, orange blossom water, and cinnamon. Wrapped in colorful marzipan, a confection made primarily from sugar and almond meal, its candied fruit and orange peel decoration appear to have inspired the icing on more contemporary cream cakes.
These components can be found in the sweets that marked childhood birthdays or those popular during the festive season, beyond the indestructible Yule log. But for centuries, cassata has been enjoyed on many occasions. Pastry lovers, defenders of ancestral know-how, and historians have continually debated its earlier origins.
Some believe that cassata has its roots in the Roman or even Greek era when desserts made from basic dough were sweetened with honey. In this case, the origins of this preparation date back over 2,000 years, according to culinary journalist Gaetano Basile. For others, the pastry was created between the 9th and 11th centuries, particularly during the Arab presence in southern Italy.
Historical Mille-Feuille of regional traditions
According to this version linking cassata to Arab-Norman Sicily, the name derives from the term «Qas'at» (basin), in reference to the container in which an Arab peasant mixed his sheep's ricotta with the end product of the sugarcane fields. This use would have illustrated the cross-fertilization of local dairy know-how with culinary influences from the Middle East and the Iberian Peninsula.
It was then at the court of the Emir of Palermo that cooks came up with the idea of wrapping the preparation in shortcrust pastry and baking it in the oven. Ricotta and sugar remained the basis of the recipe, while the rather rustic envelope was replaced by a more refined almond paste. A light sponge cake (pan di Spagna) was added, chocolate was introduced by the Spaniards, and vanilla brought a hint of sweetness to the mix. In the 14th century, the term «cassata» was expressly defined.
The name of the pastry appears in the Declarus of Angelo Sinesio, the first abbot of San Martino delle Scale in Palermo. Living from 1305 to 1386, he was the author of the first Sicilian Latin dictionary.
Historical records from the 16th century show that cassata was also a staple of the Easter table. The version based on the introduction of sugarcane by the Arabs in Sicily as a factor in the development of this preparation also suggests the role of this ingredient in the evolution of many other Sicilian pastries.
In this way, cassata was shaped and enriched by the commercial, agricultural, and maritime dynamics of a region renowned for being an economic hub in the Mediterranean. This mobility would define the island's culinary know-how more broadly, with each new population bringing its own set of practices, which would become an integral part of the terroir. The name «cassata» still appears in Michele Pasqualino's Sicilian Etymological Vocabulary, published in 1785.
The pastry is defined as some «kind of cake made with ricotta cheese sweetened with sugar with a dough casing sweetened too and made in a round shape». Vincenzo Mortillaro would later use these terms in his 1876 Dictionary.
Today, candied fruit is considered a natural part of the Sicilian cassata, but it was only during the Baroque era, which marked the years between the 16th and 18th centuries, that it was incorporated.
A transition from cooking to cold preparation
Tracing this evolution, British author and historian John Dickie points out that «it was not until the 18th century that the shape of the dessert took on an appearance similar to that of today». The author of Con gusto, storia degli italiani a tavola, a book dedicated to the history of Italian cuisine, also has reservations about the Arab origins of cassata, given the Greek and Roman references to basic versions.
However, this pastry, which embodies a mille-feuille of historical events, would much later switch from baking to cold preparation. During the 19th century in Palermo, it was the pastry chef Salvatore Gulì who ensured this transition.
Known in Morocco for its Andalusian-influenced variations, marzipan made from marzipan and sugar takes the form of «frutta martorana» in its Sicilian version. It was added to the ornaments of the cassata, along with «zuccata», the candied squash grown by the nuns of Palermo.
The iced, more contemporary form of the dessert, as defined by Salvatore Gulì, was finalized around 1873. The oven-baked version still exists and continues to have a following, with ricotta cream and almond paste remaining the undisputed basics. Local variants include specific ingredients to complete the preparation, according to the uses specific to each region: pistachio, liqueur, cinnamon...
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This is the very principle of this recipe, which is both ancestral and adapted to local products, depending on their limited or unlimited availability.
Prepared by families, in artisan pastry shops, or by Michelin-starred chefs, cassata retains its local Sicilian subtleties. These distinguish it from Palermo in the center-north, Catania in the east, Noto and Syracuse in the south, and Trapani in the west.
Since then, the dessert has become internationalized, with a shimmering glaze used in other cakes, combining sponge cake, chocolate, creams, and candied fruit, either in the preparation or in the decoration.
