Cassata Cake (Italian Easter Cake)

Cassata Cake on a glass cake stand on a wooden table surrounded by plates, napkins, forks and mugs of coffee

5 from 15 votes

Sweetened ricotta cream is studded with chocolate and candied citrus and layered between layers of light, fluffy yellow cake. Topped with more candied citrus and almonds, it's a celebratory cake that also happens to be gluten-free, grain-free, and can be refined sugar-free.

Prep Time2 40

Cook Time35

Total Time3 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 664kcal

Author: Don Baiocchi

Ingredients

For the candied citrus peel:

4 oranges (or 2 oranges, 1 lemon and 1 grapefruit)
1 cup honey

For the ricotta cream:

1 lb. whole-milk ricotta
¼ cup honey or raw cane sugar
6-7 teaspoons white, dark or aged rum or Amaretto, divided (can sub fresh orange juice)
½ cup finely chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate

For the cake:

avocado oil spray or coconut oil spray, for greasing cake pans
1 cup palm shortening
5 egg whites
5 whole eggs, room temperature (very important!)
1 cup raw cane sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

To decorate:

½ cup sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions

For the candied citrus peel:

Peel the citrus and slice the peels lengthwise into 1/4" strips. Add all the peels (even small bits that may have broken apart) to a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 45 minutes. Drain.
Heat the honey and 1 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the honey has dissolved into the water to form a honey syrup. Add the drained peels and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
Carefully drain, reserving the citrus-flavored honey for other uses, if desired. Spread the candied peels out on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Let dry for at least 1 hour but overnight is fine.
Chop half the peels (look for the unattractive, misshapen or small pieces) into a fine dice. Reserve both the diced and sliced peels.

For the ricotta cream:

Add the ricotta to a food processor and blitz until light and smooth. Alternatively, push the ricotta through a fine-mesh sieve. Using the food processor, a hand mixer or bowl and spoon, blend in the honey (or raw cane sugar) and 2-3 tsp. rum, Amaretto or orange juice. Fold in the chocolate and diced candied peels by hand.
Refrigerate the ricotta mixture until thick but still spreadable, at least 1 hour.

For the cake:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the sides of two 9" cake pans with avocado or coconut oil spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper (do not grease the paper).
Melt the palm shortening and cool to room temperature. It might become thicker as it cools but as long as it's still a spreadable/pourable consistency, it's fine.
With a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In a large bowl, blend together the room temperature whole eggs, sugar, vanilla and palm shortening. Place a sieve over the bowl and sift in the coconut flour, baking soda and salt, pushing the last bits through. Discard any hard bits that don't fit through the sieve. Blend until smooth (this may take a few minutes).
Add about 1/3 of the egg whites to the cake batter and blend in - you don't need to be too gentle with this round as it's just to light the batter. Then add another 1/3 of egg whites and gently fold them in: while rotating the bowl, scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula and fold the batter up and over itself, repeating until no white streaks remain. Repeat with the final 1/3 of egg whites.
Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature.

To assemble:

Place one cake on a cake stand or serving platter. Brush with 2 tsp. rum, Amaretto or orange juice. Gently spread half the ricotta mixture over the cake to the edge.
Place the second cake on top and brush with the remaining 2 tsp. rum, Amaretto or orange juice. Spread with the remaining ricotta cream on top to the edge.
Decorate the top of the cake with the reserved sliced peels and sliced almonds.

Notes

The candied peels can be made a week in advance. Store between layers of wax or parchment paper. Bring to room temperature before decorating the cake.

The ricotta cream can be made up to 5 days in advance and refrigerated.

The cakes can be made up to 2 days in advance (before brushed with rum/orange juice). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the fridge.

Once assembled, the cake is best eaten the same day. If not eating right away, try to store in the fridge to keep the ricotta cream firm.

Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, depending on how far in advance you made the 3 different parts.

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