The casatiello amalfitano: Easter cake on the Amalfi Coast

At Easter, as we know, traditional sweets cannot be missing. And on the Amalfi Coast, in addition to the classic chocolate eggs, colomba and pastiera (which we have already talked about here), we eat casatiello amalfitano. When speaking of casatiello, however, one must be very careful. Because the word ‘casatiello’ generally does not refer to a cake, but to a rustic dish (always typical of the Easter period) stuffed with cold cuts of various cuts and kinds, cheese and hard-boiled eggs. After all, the name derives from the Latin word ‘caseus’, which means ‘cheese’.

So if etymology does not deceive, casatiello originated as a savoury pie. But in some areas of Campania, it is also prepared in the slightly more modern variant of sweet cake, consisting of a well-leavened sponge cake base covered in iced sugar and adorned with deviled sprinkles. The Amalfi version of the sweet casatiello differs from the classic one. It is flatter and the icing that covers it is enriched with the aroma of Sfusato Amalfitano (the lemon grown on the typical terraces along the steep slopes of the coast). In addition, the top is decorated with chocolate eggs and shapes of typically Easter-themed animals in sugar paste.

During the Easter period, it is possible to taste casatiello amalfitano at pastry shops and restaurants on the coast. But for those who want to prepare it at home, here is the recipe.

Ingredients for the base

100 grams of butter
200 grams of sugar
2 eggs
300 grams of 00 flour
1 sachet of yeast
1 sachet of vanillin
juice of one orange
1 ampoule of orange blossom

Ingredients for the icing

1 egg white
170 grams icing sugar
lemon juice to taste

To decorate

coloured sprinkles
coloured chocolate eggs
modelling sugar paste

Procedure

In a bowl, work the butter with the sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing until smooth. Then add the flour a little at a time and stir to remove lumps. Then pour the orange juice, the orange blossom ampoule and finally the baking powder and vanillin into the mixture. Continue kneading until the mixture is semi-liquid. Then pour the mixture into a previously buttered doughnut mould and bake in a preheated, static oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes.

To prepare the icing, place egg whites in a bowl and beat them stiff with lemon juice. Then add the icing sugar a little at a time and mix with a beater until the lumps disappear. Pour the resulting icing over the now cold casatiello and decorate as desired.

Photo © da Jerula ad Agerola