Sicilian cassata baked in the oven: one of the best desserts ever, at least for me. I love Sicilian sweets, my brother has lived in Palermo for many years and I have to be honest, Sicilian sweets are unbeatable, my favorites are cannoli and immediately after the Cassata, but not the one with the icing, that is spectacular but I find it excessively sweet, my favorite is undoubtedly the baked version, the version that I propose today. Below you will also find the video if you have any uncertainty reading the text or if you prefer to see the various passages.

Ingredients for a flared base cake pan 22 cm diameter 26 cm wide part

For the pastry

400 gr of 00 flour
130 gr of lard
120 gr of sugar
40 ml of milk
1 egg whole + 1 yolk
1 sachet of vanillin
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
8-9 crumbled cookies (shortbread or ladyfingers)

For the cream

700 gr of sheep ricotta already drained
300 gr of sugar granulated
70 gr of chocolate chips
the tip of a teaspoon of cinnamon in powder

flared mold for pastiera / quiche like this 24 cm

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• The first thing to do is put in drain the ricotta for a few hours in a colander, or put it inside a cloth and squeeze it as in the video. Then prepare the cream, put the drained ricotta in a bowl, lo sugar and a pinch of cinnamon (the tip of a teaspoon), mix well, until the cream becomes smooth and velvety, add the chocolate chips, mix and put in the fridge.
• Now let's prepare the pastry (both cream and shortcrust pastry can be prepared the day before). We put it in a kitchen mixer flour, lo lard, lo sugar there vanillin the teaspoon of baking powder and mix well, then add the eggs, salt and a cup of milk (40 ml). We mix everything well, then pour on a pastry board and knead by hand for a few minutes.
• We form a thick disk and cover with cling film. Let it rest for at least half an hour in the fridge. Let's put it on the pastry board and spread 2/3 of the pastry between two sheets of parchment paper. The thickness of the pastry should be approx 4 mm. Grease and flour the pan which must be flared ones with a narrower bottom. We line the pan with the shortcrust pastry, the side of the pan must also be covered, remove the excess edge. We prick the bottom of the cassata with the prongs of the fork. Let's add gods crumbled cookies on the bottom and then pour the cream onto the pastry and level the surface, add a little more crumbled biscuits and cover with the remaining pastry, always spread out to a thickness of 4 mm.
• We also prick the surface using a sharp knife. We bake a 180 ° in a convection oven for about 45 minutes.

IMPORTANT: When cooked, put the pan on a wire rack to cool the cassata to room temperature. After 5-6 hours the cassata can be turned, what used to be the bottom will become the top of the cake. Let's proceed with the decoration: use linguine (pasta) and arrange them to form a rhombus grid. Sprinkle with icing sugar and carefully remove the linguine. And here is your baked Sicilian Cassata ready. Perfect for special occasions, I prepare it for both Christmas and Easter. It is really delicious! It can be stored 1 day at room temperature, 3-4 days in the fridge, the next day the preparation is even better!