The cassata cake from Sicily:

One of these delightfully tempting specialties is cassata, a Sicilian dessert. The Arabs introduced sugar cane, and this revolutionised Sicilian cooking. Before the ninth century local honey was used to sweeten Sicilian pastries. Cassata is a tort of plain white cake filled with the same sheep’s milk ricotta (cottage cheese) cream used in cannoli and sfinci, topped with frosting and sugared fruits.

It is traditionally a winter and spring dessert served around Easter; in Sicily sheep produce little milk in summer, and frostings would melt under the torrid heat.

Its name is believed to derive from the medieval Arabic kas’at in reference either to its circular form (more precisely the pan used to mold it) or the word for cheese products (cascio akin to casein). By 1300 Arab Sicily was a thing of the past, and cassata became an aristocratic dessert, its recipes jealously guarded by monastic nuns or the chefs of the aristocracy.

Even today, few outside the culinary profession are ambitious enough to make it at home. Why bother, when Palermo boasts the world’s greatest pastry bars? One of the earliest “modern” references to cassata was a document issued at Mazara in 1575 mentioning its importance at religious feasts. Cassata probably originated at Palermo or another city of western Sicily.

Sicilian gelato (ice cream), as it has come to us, is an Arab invention based on sorbet made with cane sugar, though its earliest origins, like that of torrone, are Roman.

cassata is made year ’round but it’s still best from November through April.

CASSATA VIDEO AND PICTURES

Popularity: 10% [?]

Ingredients for the Peanut Butter Cake

1 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped miniature chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies
Directions

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom and side of 9-inch round cake pan or 8-inch square pan with shortening; lightly flour.

In medium bowl, beat all ingredients except candies with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with candies.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Ingredients for the Coffee Cake:

3 cups Original Bisquick mix
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 cups fresh or Cascadian Farm® frozen organic blueberries
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, if desired
1/4 cup orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice
3/4 cup dried cherries

Ingredients for the Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions

Heat oven to 350 F. Generously grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening; lightly flour.

In large bowl, stir Bisquick mix, granulated sugar, oil, vanilla, eggs and yogurt until mixed. Stir in remaining coffee cake ingredients. Pour into pan.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool 15 m; remove from pan. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over coffee cake.

Popularity: 8% [?]

A trip in the Italian desserts world:

Do you like italian food? do want to visit italy during holliday?
Let’s start with us a fantastic trip in the Italian desserts world.

Fist of all you have to see these video about italian cakes:
- cassata cake form italy
- sicilian cakes and desserts

Then you have to learn about the most famous cakes recipes, you can eat here in Italy:
- Baba recipe
- Cannoli recipe from sicily
- Tiramisu recipe
- Cassata recipe from Sicily
- Chocolate mousse
- Pan forte from Siena
- Cocoa Mocha Mint
- Italian Desserts (Cookies and Biscotti, Panforte, Panettone, Pandoro, Tiramisu, Zabaglione, Zuppa Inglese, Cannoli, Cassata alla Siciliana, Zeppole, Torrone, Chocolate)
and also if you are not ready for a trip in Italy please see also this pictures with your most famous actors and hollywood stars who are eating italian food:
- Hermoine Granger with her muffin
- Jessica Alba loves sweets
- Nicole Richie loves cakes
- HAYDEN REDUX loves cake
- Rihanna loves sweets
- Johnny Knoxville with ice cream
- Paris Hilton: Sundance Sweetheart
- Lindsay Lohan and the Fruit of Knowlege
here the other hollywood starts with Italian desserts and cakes in their hands

Popularity: 18% [?]

NEW RECIPES:
- Fougasse (Provence):
This is a speciality from Provence usually done for Christmas.

- Pain d’épices (Belgium):
It is a very spicy and aromatic sweet bread that if well stored can be kept for long time.

- Ensaimada (Spain):
This is a very soft brioche form Mallorca but you can find it all over Spain. You can make one big ensaimada or small ones.

-Spiced Apple Pie (USA):
This is one of the thousands of American apple pie recipes available in the world. Usually prepared for the Thanksgiving is relatively easy to prepare and can be served with ice-cream or whipped cream.

RECIPES FROM THE WORLD of
PATRIZIA :
-Alfajores dall’Argentina
-Christmas Fruitcake
-Gingerbread
-Phoenician Honey Cakes (Melomacarona or Finikia)
-Pastelitos
-Glazed orange zest
-Fougasse
-Pain d’épices
-Ensaimada
-Spiced Apple Pie

Popularity: 8% [?]

A naples cake prepared for our friend here in Berlin.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Pastiera from Naples
A centuries old dish in many versions, each made according to a closely guarded family recipe.
This recipe takes time to prepare and requires presoaked grain. (Neapolitan deli’s now sell canned presoaked grain) But if you are starting from scratch–
Purchase 1/2 pound whole grain and soak it in cold water for TWO WEEKS, changing the water every two days , ( another cookbook suggests three days, changing water daily).  Come cooking time, drain it and cook the amount indicated. The pastiera is traditionally served in a 10-inch diameter round metal pan with a two-inch rim; Neapolitan pastry shops sell pastiera in the pan, and it is served so.

The Pie Crust:
1 pound flour
1/2 pound lard (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
4 yolks

The Grain:
1/2 pound well-drained soaked grain
1 1/2 cups milk
The zest of half an orange
A walnut-sized piece of lard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 packett vanillin (a teaspoon vanilla extract)

The Filling:
10 ounces FRESH Ricotta
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 vial (1/4 cup) acqua di fiori d’arancio–if using orange extract, to taste, but I think less
a pinch powdered cinnamon
1/4 cup minced citron
1/4 cup minced candied orange peel
1/4 cup candied squash (cocozzata, in Neapolitan)

Directions for Pastiera:
Begin the day ahead by cooking the soaked grain with the milk, zest,  lard, sugar and vanilla over an extremely low flame for at least four hours, or until the grains come apart and the milk has been absorbed, so that the mixture is dense and creamy.
The next morning make the pie crust: Make a mound of flour, scoop a well in the middle, and fill it with the lard, sugar and yolks. Use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the ingredients, handling the dough as little as possible (don’t knead it). Once you have obtained a uniform dough mass, press it into a ball and cover it with a damp cloth.
Pass the ricotta through a strainer into a large bowl, stir in the 3/4 cup sugar, and continue stirring for 5-6 minutes. Next, stir in the yolks, one at a time, and the grain. Next add the orange water;begin with half the amount and taste. Add more if you would like it orangier, keeping in mind that the aroma will fade some in baking. Stir in the cinnamon, and the candied fruit as well, then whip the whites to soft peaks and fold them in.
Roll out 2/3 of the pastry dough, on a pastry cloth, and line the pan. Fill it with the filling. Next, roll out the remaining dough and cut it into strips, which you will want to lay across the filling in a diagonal pattern. Bake in a moderately hot preheated 370 F oven for an hour or slightly more. The filling should dry almost completely and firm up, while the pie crust should brown slightly.

Here the pastiera photo

Popularity: 19% [?]

The Sacher torte – probably one of the world’s most famous cake creations – is closely connected with the history of Austria.

The Sacher cake is a delicious, particularly tender and softly chocolate torte filled with finest apricot jam, covered with a delicate, bittersweet chocolate glaze.

Following the original recipe of the inventor our company today offers a a high-quality, sinful delicious Sacher torte with a net weight of 600g and 1500g.
The Salzburg Patisserie Sacher torte is baked by experienced, creative master bakers and confectioners with only the highest quality, selected raw materials such as quality chocolates, finest apricot jam and other fine ingredients.

In this post all info about a chocolate cake called Sahcer.

Here the recipe of sacher cake

Popularity: 19% [?]

One of these delightfully tempting specialties is cassata, a Sicilian dessert. The Arabs introduced sugar cane, and this revolutionised Sicilian cooking. Before the ninth century local honey was used to sweeten Sicilian pastries. Cassata is a tort of plain white cake filled with the same sheep’s milk ricotta (cottage cheese) cream used in cannoli and sfinci, topped with frosting and sugared fruits.

It is traditionally a winter and spring dessert served around Easter; in Sicily sheep produce little milk in summer, and frostings would melt under the torrid heat.

Its name is believed to derive from the medieval Arabic kas’at in reference either to its circular form (more precisely the pan used to mold it) or the word for cheese products (cascio akin to casein). By 1300 Arab Sicily was a thing of the past, and cassata became an aristocratic dessert, its recipes jealously guarded by monastic nuns or the chefs of the aristocracy.

Even today, few outside the culinary profession are ambitious enough to make it at home. Why bother, when Palermo boasts the world’s greatest pastry bars? One of the earliest “modern” references to cassata was a document issued at Mazara in 1575 mentioning its importance at religious feasts. Cassata probably originated at Palermo or another city of western Sicily.

Sicilian gelato (ice cream), as it has come to us, is an Arab invention based on sorbet made with cane sugar, though its earliest origins, like that of torrone, are Roman.

Cassata is made year ’round but it’s still best from November through April.

CASSATA VIDEO AND PICTURES

Popularity: 29% [?]

In this post you can find a new way to travel around Italy following the desserts recipes from different cities.

You can start your trip in Italy in the south with:
- Sicilian cannoli (from Sicily)
- Sicilian cassata (form Sicily)
then you can move to Naples and you can taste the:
- Babà with rhum (from Naples)

Next step should be Tuscany and so Florence, Siena, Pisa and other city in this fantastic region. Here you can eat some of the best dessert in Italy:
- Panforte from Siena
- Tiramisu
- …

An other interesting region is Veneto with the:
- Pandoro (a famous dessert for Christmas)

In Lombardy you will find the:
- Panettone (eaten during Christmas period)
and in Bergamo, a nice city near milano (Orio al serio) you will taste this delicious dessert:
- photo

Popularity: 18% [?]