UW-Stout Archives: Celebrate National Italian Food Day with Sicilian Cake

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Celebrate National Italian Food Day with Sicilian Cake

This semester we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves for recipes to bring the world of baking to your home during this time.

Recipes: The Cooking of Italy, 1972, cookbook

Our first stop is Italy to create Sicilian Cake with Chocolate Frosting, via Recipes: The Cooking of Italy, Foods of the World, Time-Life Books, New York, TX723.R552 1972. We have a variety of the Food of the World cookbooks that feature recipes from a certain country or region. Discover more information about these cookbooks here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foods_of_the_World

I had the chance to travel to Italy and Greece over the 2007-2008 New Year’s Holiday as part of the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Marching Band. We traveled for 10 days and performed in Rome and Florence, Italy, and Athens, Greece. It was a great experience and besides trying new foods, such as gelato and baklava, and touring the cities, my favorite part was performing in St. Peter’s Square for the Pope on New Year’s Day.

Julie, in front of the Roman Forum

UW-EC Blugold Marching Band, St. Peter's Square, New Year's Day 2008

Florence, Italy

Sicilian Cake with Chocolate Frosting (to serve 8), p. 94

A fresh pound cake about 9 in. long and 3 in. wide

1 lb ricotta cheese

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

¼ cup sugar

3 Tbsp. Strega (an orange-flavored liqueur)

3 Tbsp. coarsely chopped mixed candied fruit

2 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

With a sharp, serrated knife, slice the end crusts off the pound cake and level the top if it is rounded. Cut the cake horizontally into 1/2 to ¾ in. thick slabs. Rub the ricotta through a coarse sieve into a bowl with a wooden spoon and beat it with a rotary or electric beater until smooth. Beating constantly, add the cream, sugar and Strega. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chopped candied fruit and chocolate. Center the bottom slab of the cake on a flat plate and spread it generously with the ricotta mixture. Carefully place another slab of cake on top, keeping the sides and ends even, and spread with more ricotta. Repeat until all the cake slabs are reassembled and the filling has been used up-ending with a plain slice of cake on top. Gently press the load together to make it as compact as possible. Do not worry if it feels wobbly; chilling firms the loaf. Refrigerate the cassata for about 2 hours, or until the ricotta is firm.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

12 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut in small pieces

¾ cup strong black coffee

½ lb. unsalted butter, cut into ½ in. pieces and chilled (2 sticks butter)

Melt 12 oz. of chocolate with the coffee in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate has completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the chilled butter, 1 piece at a time. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Then chill this frosting until it thickens to spreading consistency. With a small metal spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the top, sides and ends of the cassata, swirling it as decoratively as you can. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, wax paper or aluminum foil and the let the cassata “ripen” in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before serving it.

This recipe might seem intimidating at first – it did to me – but I took a few shortcuts that will hopefully help you. I used a frozen Sara Lee pound cake that I thawed ahead of time, which worked really well to slice and spread the ricotta mixture on. I did not find ricotta cheese at the grocery store, but substituted cottage cheese. This was my first time trying cottage cheese, and I was not crazy about it, so I suggest using ricotta cheese if you can find it. I also did not rub my cottage cheese through a course sieve, which would probably make it taste better. My cottage cheese mixture was a little on the soupy side, but it spread well on the pound cake layers, which I cut four layers. I replaced the Italian Strega (an orange flavored liqueur with strong notes of mint, juniper, and saffron) with mint extract. For the mixed candied fruit I used Sweetened Dried Sliced Kiwi. My fruit options at the store were either dried fruit or 2 different containers used for fruit cake filling. When recipes call for chopped semi-sweet chocolate, I tend to use baking chips instead, even though they might have different melting consistencies, but I find it easier to buy bags of chips. The chocolate frosting is pretty straight forward to make. I took the sticks of butter right out of the fridge and cut them, the smaller, the better for mixing. The end product resembles a Yule Log Cake. I should have researched ahead of time on ricotta cheese substitutes, and tried cream cheese instead of cottage cheese. I recommend following the recipe as is and don’t try my substitutes. I was not crazy about the overall taste of the cake. But trial and error is how you learn and become a better baker. Also, if you have left-over heavy whipping cream, to add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and whip it into whip cream to top off your piece of cake. I use my Pampered Chef whipped cream maker to easily whip up cream: https://www.pamperedchef.com/shop/Gifts/Holiday/Whipped+Cream+Maker/1461 Bon Appetit!