Borrowed from Italian cassata (“cassata siciliana”), from Sicilian cassata, probably from Vulgar Latin *cāseāta, from cāseus (“cheese”). Compare Maltese qassata (“savoury pastry with ricotta filling”), confirming that the use of ricotta cheese is what unites all of the relevant dishes (and hence probably the original meaning).
cassata (countable and uncountable, plural cassatas)
Borrowed from Sicilian cassata, possibly from Vulgar Latin *cāseāta, from cāseus (“cheese”), since ricotta is its main ingredient.
cassata f (plural cassate)
cassata f sg
Possibly from Vulgar Latin *cāseāta, from cāseus (“cheese”), since ricotta is its main ingredient.
cassata f (plural cassati)
Unadapted borrowing from Italian cassata (“cassata siciliana”), from Sicilian cassata, possibly from Vulgar Latin *cāseāta, from cāseus (“cheese”).
cassata f (plural cassatas)
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.