This recipe is so simple and so delicious. Interestingly it does not use butter but oil and this makes it very moist. It is my youngest child’s favourite cake and I often make two cakes at once so that there is enough for everyone to enjoy. You can freeze the cake and ice it later too.

The recipe came from a Nourish published by Bardon State Schoolboo.k that Two of my children enjoyed several years at this wonderful school.

Raspberry and Yoghurt Cake

(the cake recipe is from ‘Nourish’ from Bardon State School)

1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup full fat Greek yoghurt
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup frozen raspberries (It is a good idea to toss the raspberries in a little flour before adding them to the mixture, this stops them from sinking to the bottom of the cake)

Cream Cheese Icing

100g unsalted butter, softened
250g cream cheese, softened
500g icing sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.  Grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.

Whisk together the vegetable oil and caster sugar in a mixer or with a hand mixer.  Add the eggs one at a time and whisk again. Then mix in the yoghurt.  Fold through the flour like you would with a muffin mix – a little lumpy is OK so don’t over mix.  Fold through the raspberries (covered in flour as I suggested) then pour into the prepared cake tin.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until cooked through .  Leave to cool in the tin. Once completely cooled ice with cream cheese icing. Put a generous amount of icing on top.

For the icing, cream the butter and cream cheese together until pale and smooth.  Mix in the sifted icing sugar

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My husband was born in Sicily and I have been lucky enough to visit this amazing place with him a couple of times. When we visit the cafés they are filled with treats to have with your espresso. They are often dense and rich and use marzipan, a favourite ingredient of mine. When I saw March’s Gourmet Traveller’s cover with Neil Perry’s Rosetta’s Cassata photographed on the front, I knew I must try and make this. It is a recipe with many steps. You will need to start a couple of days before, but well worth the extra effort.  I made it for my husband’s birthday as a celebration of his heritage.

If you have the chance to visit Sicily you must go. It is very different to other parts of Italy. I sensed the Arab influence and many villages are just as they have been for many years. Untouched by “progress”. In the little town where I stayed there is no WiFi anywhere, everything happened at a slower pace. People have computers but they are old and slow. It is a different world running at a slower pace. Here are some photos from my last visit.

A Street in Fiumefreddo Sicily.

There are lady street sweepers.

Here is the recipe from Gourmet Traveller for you  to enjoy. I have included photos of my step by step process. On the Gourmet Traveller web page there is a video you can watch showing you how to make Rosetta’s Cassata too. Mine did not end up looking as perfect as I might have liked it to. It was difficult to get the cake out of the tin and keep the marzipan icing looking perfect. Also I might have over filled the middle with the Ricotta mixture.

Serves 8
Cooking Time Prep time 45 mins, cook 15 mins (plus chilling)

500 gm	marzipan
For dusting:	pure icing sugar
For brushing:	marsala
Few	drops green food colouring (see note)
450 gm	mixed glacé, candied and dried fruit, such as orange, cedro, amarena cherries, golden raisins and apricots, finely chopped (see note)
Sponge cake
300 gm	lightly beaten egg (about 6 eggs)
220 gm (1 cup)	caster sugar
250 gm (1 2/3 cups)	plain flour
2 tsp	baking powder
Ricotta filling
950 gm	firm ricotta
200 gm	caster sugar
280 gm	goat’s curd
30 gm	dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids), finely grated

1	For sponge cake, preheat oven to 160C. Whisk eggs and sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed until thick, pale and tripled in volume. Meanwhile, sift flour and baking powder into a separate bowl. Carefully fold dry ingredients into egg mixture in 3 batches. Spoon into a 24cm x 34cm x 5cm-deep cake tin lined with baking paper, smooth top and bake until sponge is golden and springs back when lightly pressed (20-30 minutes). Cool completely in tin.
2	For ricotta filling, process ricotta and sugar in a food processor until smooth, add goat’s curd, pulse to combine, stir in chocolate, pulse to combine and set aside.
3	Line a 22cm-diameter springform cake tin with plastic wrap, leaving edges hanging over sides, and set aside. Roll out 320gm marzipan to a 35cm-diameter round on a piece of baking paper dusted with icing sugar. Line base and sides of cake tin with marzipan, pressing it into tin and leaving edges hanging over sides.
4	Trim top of sponge level, and trim edges (discard trimmings). Halve sponge horizontally and cut a 22cm-diameter circle from one end of each half. Cut remaining sponge into 4.5cm x 3cm fingers and set aside. Place a sponge round in marzipan-lined tin, trimming to fit if necessary. Line sides with sponge fingers, then brush Marsala all over sponge. Spoon in ricotta mixture, smooth top, place second sponge round on top and brush with Marsala. Trim marzipan, cover cake with plastic wrap, weight with a flat plate that fits in tin, place food cans on top to weight further, and refrigerate to press and chill (overnight).
5	Remove sides of cake tin, invert cassata onto a plate and remove plastic wrap. Add a drop or 2 of food colouring to remaining marzipan to achieve a delicate green, knead well to soften slightly, dusting with icing sugar if required to prevent sticking, then roll out to 35cm x 12cm x 2mm thick on a piece of baking paper dusted with icing sugar. Cut into two 35cm x 6cm strips, then press each piece against sides of cake to form a collar, pressing short edges to seal.
6	Combine chopped fruit in a bowl, scatter over cake, cut into wedges and serve.

This is the sponge cake mixture going into the oven.

This is the sponge placed around the outside of the tin and the bottom of the pan. The marzipan layer is under this.

Now it is filled with the ricotta mixture.

The finished Cassata Cake

And here is your slice.

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I do enjoy Easter. I love all the bunnies and flowers and chocolates. I can imagine in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be wonderful to tie all this in with Spring and all the new growth.  Here, we are going into Autumn but it doesn’t really make that much difference as our climate is sub tropical and we really only have a summer and a short winter. I was thinking with all the chocolate being handed over at Easter time it might be a nice change to give something else and this is how I came up with my Easter Cupcakes. You could easily make some of these and give them away too.

I used the Vanilla Cupcake recipe from Magnolia Bakeries and here it is.

Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

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