While talking to your own children, you sometimes revisit your life in the past and unfolds your childhood temptations and favorites. While talking about healthy food and its importance, my son suddenly asked me “What was your favorite food when you were of my age”? I took a pause to think because the answer was not in any way a good example for him. I tried to ignore the subject saying we didn’t have so many options those days. The next question popped up was about my all time favorite food or dessert as a child. That was easy to answer, it was cassata and ice cream soda. Of Course! apparently the next question was “What is Cassata and Ice-cream Soda? Ice-cream soda was easy to make him understand as float but divinity of cassata was really difficult to describe and make him understand. The slice of three flavors of ice-creams layered on a cake covered with nuts was nothing less than a bliss on a plate. The flavors of three ice-creams bursting together in your mouth with crunchy nuts and spongy cake still makes me blank and the only word that comes out of my mouth is Yum! Delicious!.
Cassata is very different than ice-cream cake. Ice-cream cake is cake with a layer of ice-cream and frosting on it, whereas cassata is three layers of ice-cream on a layer of cake and covered with nuts. More ice-cream, less cake and a crunch with roasted nuts. I don’t know if I am making any sense to you but sometimes the experience is better than lots of words. So I decided to recreate a recipe for cassata with my favorite flavors of ice-creams.
My favorite flavors are all Indian flavors of ice-cream. Keeping a color scheme in my mind I opted for Mango ice-cream, pistachios ice-cream and kulfi. The whole experience of making cassata from scratch was so therapeutic and joyful to me. I was so excited that I finished from baking a cake to making three flavors, layering and freezing in one day.
Though, the size of my cassata is smaller than the real one but when you make it at home, having just one of anything you love is never enough. A guilty pleasure !!!
Verdict from my son– OMG! it is so delicious. It has ice-creams, cake, nuts….Gosh! Its a total treat.
Hard work all worth!! 🙂 🙂
- Sponge Cake
- 3 Flavors of Ice cream of your choice
- (I used Mango, kukfi and Pistachios)
- Crushed Almonds and Pistachios
- Tutti Frutty
- Terrine Pan or Loaf Pan
- Line the preferred pan with the parchment paper hanging on both the sides.
- Take out the ice cream from the freezer to soften them before using.
- Sprinkle crushed nuts all over the pan.
- Fill up the bottom part with one flavor of the ice cream.
- Flatten it with the spatula. Cover and put it in freezer for an hour.
- After an hour check, if it is all set add another layer of the different flavor.
- Add extra tutti fruity for color and set it again in freezer.
- In the mean time, cut sponge cake in to a rectangular shape of a pan.
- Check again after an hour, pour the final layer of the different ice cream.
- Add extra layer of nuts on top.
- Now place rectangular cake over the ice cream. Press it lightly.
- Cover it tightly with the hanging parchment paper and aluminum foil.
- Freeze it overnight.
- To serve, put the mold in the warm water for some time.
- Invert on a plate, peel off the parchment paper.
- Add more nuts on the top. Slice and serve.