Obsessed with Cassata Cake



Photo Courtesy of CreampuffsinVenice

 Obsessed.  I would like a piece of cassata cake & a cup of espresso & the November Vogue right now.  Cassata is a very cool word for a sweet Italian sponge confection puffed up with some sort of filling & often dressed with nuts and candied fruits.  Seattle's Columbia City Bakery makes their cassata with multiple layers of white cake brushed with Marsala wine, tricked out with an orange flower-scented ricotta filling and covered in a thin sheet of almond paste. Ummm, yes.  Yes, yes.  Please enter my mouth now.  Here is a link to a recipe that looks pretty straight forward, though I haven't yet tried it: CASSATA CAKE.     I want to become a little Cassata baker: the girl that brings it to her neighbor's birthday party, decorated offbeat with Italian inspired pastel dots & funny vintage plastic pieces.  (Also, wouldn't it be a lovely / different sweet for this holiday season?!  It seems so much more original than cupcakes or tiramisu or pumpkin tart.)