The ice cream version of the great Sicilian dessert, made innovative by Pino Cuttaia's chef's touch.

INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE

250 g eggs
175 g of sugar
150 g of flour
50 g potato starch
1 vanilla bean

Sift the flour with the starch. Collect the whole eggs and sugar in a small pot and beat them with a whisk, then place the bowl in a hot water bath and bring the mixture to 45°C; then pass it through a food mixer and whip it until it becomes frothy.
At this point, add the flour by pouring it in by sprinkling and incorporate it, stirring gently from the bottom up. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured mold and place in the oven at 190°C for 20 minutes. Once unmolded, allow the sponge cake to cool on a wire rack.

FOR THE "BAGNA"

500 g sugar
1 l water
1 cinnamon stick
½ vanilla bean
a lemon peel
star anise
100 g rum

Collect the water and sugar in a saucepan and add the vanilla, cinnamon, lemon peel and a “star” of anise. Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil; off the heat, perfume the syrup with rum.

FOR THE RICOTTA ICE CREAM

500 g ricotta cheese
1 l whole milk
450 g sugar
2 g carob flour
orange candied fruit and chocolate chips

Blend the ricotta with the sugar; while continuing to blend, add the milk and carob flour. Whisk the mixture in the ice cream maker; when the ice cream is ready, mix in the diced candied oranges and chocolate chips.

FOR THE PISTACHIO ICE CREAM

750 g milk
250 g fresh cream
8 egg yolks
350 g sugar
2 g carob flour
120 g pistachio paste

FOR THE TRIFLE ICE CREAM

750 g milk
250 g fresh cream
8 egg yolks
350 g of sugar
50 g glucose
2 g carob flour
40 g of trifle flavor

For the pistachio ice cream, beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the milk by mixing with a whisk and bring the cream to 82°C. Finally, mix the cream, carob flour and pistachio paste into the cream and let it cool well before passing the mixture through the ice cream maker.
Also prepare the trifle ice cream in this way, adding glucose to the sugar and replacing the pistachio cream with trifle flavoring.

TO GUARNISH

Amarena cherries in syrup and pistachio granola.

Fill an ice cream cassata mold with ice cream. Start with the trifle ice cream, covering all the walls of the mold; then the pistachio ice cream, arranged in the same way, and finally the ricotta ice cream with a strip of sponge cake soaked in the syrup in the center. Cover the cassata with thin slices of bagna-soaked sponge cake and place the cassata in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. The chef serves it cut into thick slices, garnished with pistachios and black cherries.