In ancient Greece mizithra, a soft cheese, mixed with honey and fruits, baked or unbaked, was the primitive form of cheesecake: it was prepared for special occasions or to offer to the gods. In the pre-Roman era, when the Greeks colonized Sicily, they trained their cooks to make it, however soon the ricotta cheese, abundantly produced in Sicily, replaced the mizithra. In Sicily, a mush made with grain was added to the cheesecake, also bread dough, stuffed with ricotta, honey and fruits, was baked to produce a precursor of the modern cheesecake. 

Later the Romans introduced this primitive form of cheesecake, in all the European areas they dominated. Before long, each region made their own version, suitable to their taste and using local ingredients; in Sicily, this cake evolved in the baked cassata. 

The Sicilian ricotta cheesecake is another version of the cassata: the same ingredients used to make it are combined in a simple recipe to produce this delicious dessert prepared on holidays and special occasions. In fact, the eggs and flour are the main components to bake the sponge, pan di Spagna; the ricotta, sugar and orange zest are the basic elements to make the filling of the Cassata Siciliana.