This orange cassata cake is my version of Dan Lepard’s recipe. It’s deliciously citrusy and tastes of real orange. Despite its grand sounding title, it’s an easy bake to make. The orange flavoured sponge is sandwiched with a layer of curd cheese mixed with chunks of chocolate and orange zest. Then the whole thing is topped off with orange icing. How nice is that?
Having missed trying a piece of the orange and Earl Grey cake, I was keen to make another one as soon as possible. I could have made the exact same one and one day I will, but having spotted a recipe for orange cassata cake in Dan Lepard’s Short & Sweet, I thought I’d try that one instead. It did contain chocolate after all.
What Is Cassata?
Cassata is an Italian cake, originally from Sicily. It’s an extravaganza of a bake with a layered sponge soaked in liqueur, a filling of ricotta cheese, candied fruit and chocolate and a marzipan and candied fruit topping. Traditionally, cassata is enjoyed at Easter celebrations.
It’s this Sicilian dessert that inspired cassata ice cream. The ice cream is usually made up of three different flavours, one of which is usually pistachio. Liqueur soaked sponge, candied fruit, chocolate and sometimes marzipan are also included. It’s hard to be disappointed with that lot.
Orange Cassata Cake
This orange cassata cake is rather less extravagant, but definitely not a plain Jane. And just in case you think I’m being a bit harsh here, my middle name is Jane and I don’t mean to cause any offence. There is no alcohol in this recipe, so it’s perfectly safe for children to eat.
I used custard powder in the recipe rather than Dan’s stated cornflour. This was because I didn’t have any of the latter, but actually it’s a really good addition and works well with it’s slight vanilla tones. Vanilla pairs very nicely with orange.
The cheese filling contains mixed peel. CT is not a fan, so I reduced the amount in the original recipe and cut it nice and fine hoping he wouldn’t notice. If I’d had some of my candied orange peel, I would have used that instead. It’s much nicer.
What Does It Taste Like?
This is a deliciously citrusy cake and it tastes of real orange. I say that because of the horrible synthetic taste you so often get with some commercial offerings. Neither CT nor I can abide it. But fresh orange is a whole different matter.
The sponge has a good firm, but moist texture and rises well. As the chocolate is in the filling only and all layers contain orange, the orange is allowed to be the star of the show. It’s an orange cake with chocolate not a chocolate cake with orange.
The orange icing is just the right amount to give a welcome addition of sweetness, but not so much as to be cloying.
The chocolate in the filling provides a nice contrasting crunch to the sponginess of the cake and the cheese is pleasantly tart and creamy. CT, who is not a lover of candied peel, remained mercifully silent on the subject of its presence – result!
Other Orange Cake Recipes You Might Like
- Chocolate orange marble cake
- Mini orange sponge cakes with blood orange curd
- Nonnettes (French Honey Cakes)
- Orange poppy seed cake with white chocolate
- Rhubarb & orange chocolate cake
- Triple orange chocolate cake
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this orange cassata cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making Italian cakes?
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Choclette x
Orange Cassata Cake. PIN IT.
Dan Lepard’s Orange Cassata Cake
Ingredients
Sponges
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 125 g golden caster sugar (I used my cardamom sugar)
- 1 ½ oranges organic if you can, unwaxed if not – otherwise scrub in hot soapy water before using
- 3 medium eggs
- 200 g flour (I used half wholemeal spelt and half white)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 25 g custard powder (can substitute cornflour)
- 75 g icing sugar
- 75 g milk
Cheese Filling
- 250 g curd cheese (ricotta is traditional but I used quark)
- ½ orange zested
- 40 g dark chocolate chopped (I used Lindt Orange Intense which also contains pieces of orange and almonds)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 g mixed peel very finely chopped
Orange Icing
- 100 g icing sugar
- 3 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
Sponges
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.125 g unsalted butter, 125 g golden caster sugar
- Grate in the zest from the oranges and cream a bit more.1 ½ oranges
- Beat in the eggs one by one, alternating with a spoonful of the flour mixture to avoid curdling.3 medium eggs
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarb, custard powder and icing sugar. Stir then add the milk and carefully stir again until just mixed.200 g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, 25 g custard powder, 75 g icing sugar, 75 g milk
- Divide the mixture between two lined 23 cm round cake tins or silicone moulds and bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cheese Filling
- In a small bowl beat the cheese together with the orange zest.250 g curd cheese, ½ orange
- Stir in the chocolate, vanilla extract and mixed peel.40 g dark chocolate, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 15 g mixed peel
- Spread the mix over one of the cakes, then place the other one on top to create a sandwich.
Orange Icing
- Beat the icing sugar with the orange juice until it’s soft enough to spread but not so runny it will slide off the cake.100 g icing sugar, 3 tbsp orange juice
- Spread the icing over the top of the sandwich cake and decorate with strands of orange zest or candied orange.
Maya Russell says
I like a real orange taste to cakes and your cake looks super.
Jazz says
This looks so good, it’s a bonus that it tasted of real oranges, I know the feeling when you are excited to eat something that is orange flavoured and tastes nothing like it!Jazz xo
Johanna GGG says
fascinating idea – haven’t had cassata for ages but I like the idea of converting it to a cake – and the actual cake sounds great too – yet another reason to buy the book
Working london mummy says
this looks fantastic. I have seen so many good recipes from this book I will need to go out and get it x
sophiesfoodiefiles says
MMMMMM,…I love every Dan Lepard recipe & this won eis a real winner! Huge, pretty & special too!
Choclette says
Celia – thank you for the tip on strips of peel and for the nice thought. There must be a source over here somewhere as C says she gets large pieces of peel that need cutting up too. Hope you get that copy of S&S soon, don’t want any explosions.
C – thank you. Will have to look out for that – didn’t know we could get any other type of peel here.
CityHippy – he he – does this mean peel features a lot in your cooking?
Venessa – I’m very much hoping I’ll get to meet him this time!
Vanessa Kimbell says
Oh this looks divine. I love love love Dan Lepard. he’s simply the best baker ever.
cityhippyfarmgirl says
I love peel. Mr Chocolate however not so much, anything vaguely like that and he says a polite,”it’s more of a you thing.” More for me twiddly-dee 🙂
C says
Looks lovely – really well risen and a lovely sounding combination of flavours.
Adding to Celia’s comment – does CT hate the mixed peel you can buy as whole pieces and chop yourself, or the ready chopped stuff. I hate the ready chopped stuff – it’s bitter and nasty, but the stuff you chop yourself is a million miles apart. The supermarkets used to sell it, but the Sundora stuff I was looking for doesn’t seem to be on mysupermarket.co.uk. Hmmm, will have to look for it instore.
celia says
If Amazon don’t ship my copy of Short and Sweet soon, I may explode! 🙂 Love the sound of this cake, Choc, as I’m a big fan of the choc-orange combination. I’ve recently found really good orange peel (which comes in strips rather than the horrible packaged stuff), I wish I could send you some. It even converted Pete, who like CT has never been a mixed peel fan…
Choclette says
Dom – and there are just so many more 🙂
Suelle – I think there’s enough in there to keep us all going for some time to come.
Foodycat – well the sponge was meant to be split into four and as usual I didn’t quite follow the recipe!
Karen – thank you. You’re all very familiar with cassata – I’m not, so had nothing to gage it by.
Angie – well this was my first attempt too and I didn’t split the sponge into four as I should have done or used as much filling.
Lou – I’m suddenly in love with orange. The trouble with that book (and most baking books if truth be told), is trying to pick on only one recipe to start with 😉
Anna – Oh, I do hope you won’t be disappointed – I’m sure you won’t :-S
Chele – had a good giggle over that one. It’ll be here before you know it and you’ll be wishing you had more time!
Hannah – it was the first time I’ve put these particular flavours together and it did work very well.
Claire – I’m just not very good at following recipes – I’m a bit blase in the kitchen. This might not be a good thing 😉
MCB – I’m sure you wouldn’t regret it. There’s a baking challenge just for it too.
Sarah – thank you. You’ll be spoilt for choice.
BVG – thank you. Hope santa delivers – you’ll love it.
Janice – oh will have to watch that on iPlayer. No, I sort of doubt duck eggs would be available in a supermarket. Buy mine in local farm shop or WI market.
Laura – you’re so right, it smelt wonderful. The cheese worked well, but I’d really like to try it again with ricotta.
Baking Addict – I know what you mean. There are so many baking books coming out at the moment, they’ll be bankrupting us as well as taking over our houses 😉
Jennifer – thank you, that’s very kind. I’m a hit and miss kind of girl 😉
Little Loaf – the chocolate definitely took a back seat on this one, but it played it’s part very nicely nonethe less.
thelittleloaf says
This looks lovely and moist, and the frosting looks so fudgey and delicious. It’s not as chocolatey as a lot of the stuff you post, but can imagine the flavour is subtle and delicious. Another winner from Dan!
Jennifer says
Looks good, sounds good – must get that book – I like how you substitute things you haven’t got and it still turns out great.
Baking Addict says
This looks really, really good and I’ve just had cake! Am bookmarking this immediately. I really must get my hands on this book but I’ve bought so many recently, I can’t quite bring myself to buy anymore yet.
Laura@howtocookgoodfood says
Yet another gorgeous looking cake from Dan Lepard’s book. I bet this one smelled amazing as it was cooking. I like the idea of using quark in the icing, very clever!
Janice says
How perfectly gorgeous. I was thinking about you when watching the Great British Food Revival – James Martin was waxing lyrical over duck eggs! I will look out for them now, they might have them at the Farm Shop we go to once every 6 weeks or so. Never seen them in the supermarket up here.
Brownieville Girl says
The texture looks just perfect – I’ve added this book to my Christmas wish list.
Sarah, Maison Cupcake says
That looks like a proper old fashioned cake, I can’t wait to try something out of this book.
MissCakeBaker says
I’m so buying this book – gorgeous looking cake.
Rolling Pin Claire says
Looks amazing. I love the way you’re not afraid to make a few changes to recipes – they always seem to work!
Hannah says
Mmmm one of my favourite flavour combinations!
Chele says
How many more sleeps is it till Santa arrives? My book is on his sleigh and I’m not sure I can cope with any more pictures of the treats inside, its driving me crazy I tell you!
;0)
At Anna's kitchen table says
I got this book because of YOU!! Lol.
Another gorgeous cake!!
Please Do Not Feed The Animals. says
I think orange cakes are quite exceptional. I haven’t made one for a while and I do have this book. Your one looks such a treat.
Angie's Recipes says
I have never baked a cassata cake..looks so pretty and I am totally intrigued.
Karen S Booth says
LOVELY looking cake and I am a sucker for all things citrus so this is right up my cake street! Also love the fact that it appears to be more cakey than than the usual cassata, better for me that!
Karen
Foodycat says
That looks good – it looks much more cakey than a lot of cassata cakes I’ve seen.
Suelle says
This looks a great cake – another one to add to my list of things to bake from the book!
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
Ooh it looks so lovely. I am so excited about winning the book. I cannot wait for it to arrive. So many recipes I’ve seen from it look amazing!!