F’Malta niksuha b’mod differenti. Ġeneralment ma jintużax in-naspru, iżda tinkesa kollha bil-pasta rjali u ma tintużax konfettura.

Ingredjenti għal Cassata ta’ daqs 30cm.

sponge imsajra
ġamm tal berquq
600g irkotta
200g zokkor
200g konfettura
ftit krema friska
maraschino
pasta rjali ħadra
ċikkulata jew royal icing
ċirasa konfettura ħamra
ftit cornflour

Metodu

1. Ipprepara forma minn dawk taċ-ċinturin (spring form tin) ta’ 30cm iksiha bl-istretch and seal. Din it-tip ta’ forma tgħinek meta tiġi biex tneħħi l-cassata u tqegħda fuq platt.

2. Aqta biċċa sponge daqs tal-forma u poġġiha fil-qiegħ tal-forma. L-isponge trid tkun irqiqa. Dawwar il-ġnub tal-forma b’ biċċa sponge oħra.

3. Neħħi kemm tista zokkor minn mal-konfettura jew inkella naqqas mill-piz taz-zokkor.

4. Ġo bieqja qiegħed l-irkotta u għaffiġa tajjeb sakemm tiġi qisha krema. Żid iz-zokkor ix-xorb u ftit krema friska. Kompli ħaddem biex it-taħlita tiġi ħaġa waħda.

5. Żid il-konfettura mat-taħlita tal-irkotta. Erġa ħawwad.

6. Xarrab l-isponge li hemm fil-forma bi ftit xorb. Qiegħed it-taħlita ta’ l-irkotta fuqha.

7. Erġa aqta biċċa sponge oħra daqs tal-forma u poġġiha fuq l-irkotta. Bil-mod għafas ftit l-isfel. Xarrab il-wiċċ bix-xorb.

8. Qegħda fil-fridge għal mhux anqas minn sagħtejn.

9. Neħħi mill-forma u poġġiha fuq platt ċatt. Idlikha bil-ġamm tal-berquq.

10. Roxx FTIT cornflour fuq mejda u fuqha iftaħ il-pasta rjali. Iksi l-cassata biha. Aqta ż-żejjed li jkun hemm mal-ġnub u b’pinzell tal-kċina farfar il-cornflour li jista jkun hemm fil-wiċċ.

11. Żejjen bir-royal icing jew biċ-ċikkulata u biċ-ċirasa ħamra.

Ingredjenti

600ml ħalib
100g zokkor
50g cornflour
2 isfra tal bajd
essenza tal-vanilla

Metodu

1. F’ kazzola poġġi l-ħalib flimkien maz-zokkor u l-essenza tal-vanilla. Qiegħed fuq nar moderat.

2. F’ bieqja poġġi l-isfar tal- bajd u żid ftit ħalib. Żid il-cornflour u ħawwad tajjeb sakemm din tinħall.

3. Meta t-taħlita tal-ħalib tibda tagħli, baxxi n-nar u bil-mod ibda żid il-cornflour filwaqt li tħawwad il-ħin kollu. Triq tagħmel ħafna attenzjoni biex il-krema tiġi lixxa – dik lib l-Ingliż tissejjaħ ‘smooth’.

4. Poġġi din il-krema ġo l-forma ta’ l-għaġina msajra. Trid tħalli l-krema tiksaħ għal kollox qabel ma tqiegħed il-frott fil-wiċċ.

NOTA Jekk trid tagħmel krema taċ-ċikkulata żid 40g trab taċ-ċikkulata -cocoa powder.

1 lt milk
1 sponge cake
100 ml fruit juice or fruit-flavoured liqueur
150 g diced candied fruit
2 table spoons rum
2 egg whites
150g sugar
200g sugar powdered sugar
60g custard powder
Candied cherries.

1. Boil milk and 150g sugar. Dilute custard powder and add to the boiled milk.Whisk well.

2. Cut cake into large cubes, put into a bowl. Sprinkle with fruit juice and rum.

3. Top with candied fruit. Cover with custard. Let it set and cool.

4. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon over sponge and custard, covering completely.

5. Decorate with remaining candied fruit and cherries. Bake 3 to 5 minutes until meringue is lightly browned, makes 6-8 servings.

PASTRY

CHEESE FILLING
500g ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp rum
120g powdered sugar
56g chocolate, coarsely grated.
120g pistachios, coarsely chopped
60g candied lemon peel or orange peel
Candied cherries.

1. For pastry, in a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, coffee and salt. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients. Add butter, egg yolk and enough Marsala to make a firm but not dry dough. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 4-inch squares. Using a rolling pin, round off 2 opposite corners of each square. Lightly moisten non-rounded edges of pastry square. Place a pastry square around a cannoli tube, joining the non-rounded corners; press to securely seal. Pastries will come off easily if tubes are oiled.

3. In a deep skillet or saucepan, heat oil. Fry pastries in hot oil 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil. Drain well. Cool slightly, then remove metal tube. Cool completely before filling.

4. To make filling, press cheese through a sieve. Beat in vanilla, rum and sugar until smooth. Stir in chocolate. Chill until needed. Use less sugar if desired.

5. Fill cooled pastries using a spoon or piping bag. Decorate with pistachios, candied peel and cherries as desired. Makes about 18.

250g sugar
150g butter, room temperature
6 eggs, separated
141g unsweetened or semisweet chocolate, melted, cooled
40g ground toasted blanched almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
130g all-purpose flour
¼ cup milk
50g fine breadcrumbs
4 tbsp rum
100g apricot jam, sieved

1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190C). Grease and flour a 9-inch spring form pan.

2. In a medium bowl, cream sugar with butter. Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time. Stir in chocolate, almonds and vanilla. Stir in ½ the flour alternately with ½ the milk. Blend well. Beat in remaining flour and milk. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir breadcrumbs and ¼ of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining egg whites.

3. Pour into prepared pan. Baked 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for several hours. Split cake into 3 equal layers.

4. To assemble cake, position bottom layer on a serving plate. Sprinkle with ½ the rum; spread lightly with 1/3 of the jam. Top with second layer. Repeat process with liqueur and jam. Cover 2 layers with top layer. Spread with remaining jam. Cover entire cake with frosting. Use a fork to achieve rough texture on cake’s surface.

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY
280g all purpose flour
126g sugar
125g butter
1 egg
2 egg yolks

CHEESE FILLING
500g ricotta cheese (680g)
350g powdered sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
2 tsp grated orange peel
½ tsp ground cinnamon

MERINGUE
3egg whites
150g powdered sugar, sifted.

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Work in butter with your finger tips. Add egg yolks, blending as quickly as possible. Continue to work pastry on a floured surface using a spatula until blended. Roll out pastry.

2. Press into bottom and side of a 10-inch spring form pan. Preheat oven to 375F (190C)

3. For filling, in a large bowl, beat together cheese, sugar, egg, egg yolks, orange peel and cinnamon.

4. Pour cheese mixture into pastry-lines pan.

5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until firmly set. Remove from over. Turn off oven heat.

6. For meringue, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold in powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time. Spread ½ the meringue over cheesecake. Decorate with additional meringue using a piping bag. Return cheese cake to warm oven. Let it sit in oven for 30 to 40 minutes to set meringue.

2 pints of fresh raspberries or 1 jar seedless raspberry jam
2 to 4 tbsp warm water
50g powdered sugar
lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tbsp raspberry liqueur or other sweet liqueur
6 fresh peaches, peeled, halved or 12 canned peaches halves
50g granulated sugar
300 ml water
1 quart vanilla ice cream

1. Rinse fresh raspberries. Puree raspberries and ¼ cup water in a blander or food processor; sieve to remove seeds. If using jam, heat in saucepan with about 2 tbsp water.

2. In a large bowl, combine raspberry puree or heated jam mixture, powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and liqueur. Refrigerate fro 1 hour.

3. To prepare fresh peaches, in a large saucepan, combine granulated sugar and 2 cups water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add fresh peach halves. Poach 5 to 10 minutes until just tender. Cool peaches in syrup.

4. Place a shallow layer of ice cream in bottom of 6 glasses or dessert dishes. Top each with 2 cooked or canned peach halves, then 2 scoops of ice cream. Pour raspberry mixture over each.

5. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

PLAIN PASTRY
130g all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
150g unsalted butter
3 to 4 tbsp water

LEMON FILLING
175 sugar
7 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs, separated
175g water
1 tbsp butter or margarine
2 lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel

DECORATION
Peach jelly
3 egg whites
130 powdered sugar
60g flaked almonds, toasted

1. For Pastry; preheat oven to 400F (205C). In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut butter until pieces are size of small peas. Add 3 tablespoons water; toss with a fork until flour is moistened and mixture begins to form a ball. Add more water to crumbs in bottom of bowl, if necessary. Gather dough into a flat ball.

2. Roll out pastry; place in an 8 or 9-inch pie plate. Prick pastry with fork. To prevent pastry from rising during baking, cover with waxed paper. Bake 10 to 15 minutes.

3. For filling, in a double boiler or saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Beat egg yolks and water until smooth; stir into sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat. Stir in butter or margarine, lemon juice and lemon peel. Let cool. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold carefully into cooled lemon mixture.

5. Pour filling into baked pastry.

6. Melt jelly over low heat. Glaze surface or pie with a thin layer of melted jelly.

7. For meringue topping, beat egg whites, until stiff but not dry. Gradually fold in sugar. Using a piping bag fitted with a wavy tip, pipe meringue in diagonal crisscross lines. Decorate edges with a thick band of meringue and flaked almonds. Bake at 400 F (205C) 5 minutes to set meringue.

1 large fresh pineapple
2 bananas
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 kiwis
1 mango
3 or 4 lettuce leaves
1 orange or tangerine, peeled, segmented
10 maraschino cherries, drained
2 tbsp sugar

ORANGE CREAM
2 fresh orange juice
50g sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
container whipping cream

1. Wash the pineapple before cutting in half. Ripe pineapple should give slightly when pressed with your fingers. Cut pineapple in half. Reserve ½ of the pineapple for another use.

2. Remove hard core from centre of other pineapple half. Use a sharp knife to cut fruit from shell. Cut around outside, then slice length wise and cross wise for easy removal of fruit with a spoon.

3. Lay empty pineapple half, cut-side down, on a cloth to drain.

4. Peel and slice bananas; sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning.

5. Peel and slice kiwifruit.

6. Peel mango; remove stone and cut fruit into pieces.

7. Arrange lettuce leaves in drained pineapple half. Add pineapple pieces, sliced bananas, kiwi and mango pieces, orange or tangerine segments and cherries. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar; set aside.

8. For orange cream, in a small saucepan. Combine orange juice and ¼ cup sugar. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Gradually whisk in egg yolks. Stir over low heat until mixture thickens. Cool completely. Whip cream until slightly thickened; fold into orange mixture. Pour over salad at serving time. Makes 4 – 6 servings.

Sponge
Kilo ricotta
2 containers fresh cream
120 g candied peel
60g candied cherries
Maraschino or Kirsh
200 g icing sugar
100g roasted chopped almonds

1. Mix thoroughly the ricotta, icing sugar and fresh cream. Work to a smooth texture.

2. Under running water wash the candied peel well and chop the cherries. This procedure enables us to remove the sugar and colouring.

3. Add the fruit, almonds and some liqueur.

4. Mix to a smooth texture and cover.

5. Line a sponge tin with stretch and seal.

6. Slice the sponge, into 2 disks. Put the first one on the bottom of the tin. Line the side with sponges too.

7. Sprinkle some Kirsch or maraschino. Fill with ricotta. Cover with the second disk press and refrigerate. Ideal to rest for 24 hours.

8. Remove from tin, cover with melted apricot jam (cold) and cover with almond paste. Decorate with melted chocolate and glazed cherries.

NOTE the Sicilians don’t use almond paste to cover, they use fondant sugar in a pale green colour.