Vasilopita – Greek New Year’s Eve cake

Vasilopita is the cake we make to cut on the night of New Year’s Eve dedicated to St Basil. Yet another popular tradition, just like baking melomakarona for Christmas. Everyone present on New Year’s Eve gathers around to witness the cutting of the cake. The reason? To taste the cake but mainly to find the hidden coin! A coin is wrapped and placed in the vasilopita. The person who gets it, needs to keep it somewhere safe and they are said to have good luck in the new year. I was the lucky winner a year ago and I have to admit it was a great year overall!

The ingredients used

There are variations of this cake across the whole of Greece some even savoury rather than sweet. The most popular versions though include flour, almonds, eggs, butter, sugar, orange juice and/or milk. Spices and aromatics like mastic drops may also be added. The crushed almonds added may be blanched or with the skin on. I added roasted almonds, as suggested by Galatia over at Cuisinovia which I enjoyed eating. The vasilopita takes on a different kind of flavour.

The method to follow

One version of my mum’s recipes included making a meringue to fold into the cake. I attempted making that but I was not quite successful. The recipe below was a lot easier to follow. When creaming the butter with the sugar, the butter should be soft so that no lumps are created. Then each whole egg is beaten one at a time, in order to blend them better in the batter and reduce the “eggy smell”.

How to decorate it

Typically before you bake the vasilopita, you may use blanched halved almonds to write the number of the new year you are celebrating or you may bake it plain and then use icing sugar to dust on the year. For this recipe I chose to use sliced almonds to make two rows around the circumference and then dust it with icing sugar after baking. When you use icing sugar though, decorate the cake at the last minute before serving, as icing sugar absorbs the oils from the cake and ends up turning yellow.

Upon cutting the cake you traditionally make a cross and then cut a piece for Christ, St Basil, the home and then to all the people present by age (youngest to oldest or vice versa). Everyone then quickly looks to find the coin to see who the lucky person is!

For more sweet creations, traditional and non, check out this link!

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Vasilopita – Greek New Year’s Eve cake

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Greek

Servings: 12

Author: Eleni Georges

Ingredients

• 200 g unsalted butter, softened
• 125 mL vegetable oil, or any other neutral oil, ½ cup
• 345 g caster sugar, 1 ½ cups
• 2 tsp brandy or 1 tsp vanilla paste
• orange zest of a whole orange
• 5 large eggs
• 375 g plain flour, 2 ½ cups
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 190 mL orange juice, ¾ cup
• 140 g oven roasted almonds crushed, 1 cup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 175°C conventional setting (155°C fan forced). Beat the butter, oil and sugar until it is all creamed together and combined. Beat in the brandy and orange zest. Then add one egg at a time and continue beating for 20sec after each time.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder and add 1/3 of it in the creamed sugar slowly. Alternate with 1/3 of the orange juice. Repeat until both the dry and wet ingredients are finished. Lastly fold in the crushed roasted almonds.

3. Pour half the batter in a lined or greased and floured 26cm springform. Place a coin wrapped in alumininum foil or baking paper on the batter and then pour the rest of the batter in. Bake on the middle rack for 60min and check for readiness when you place a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean.

4. Allow the cake to cool in the springform for 10min before you place it on a cooling rack. Let it cool down completely before adding any icing sugar on it and preferably add the icing sugar just before serving so that it doesn’t turn yellow.

Recipe Notes

If you are using a smaller springform then a slightly longer baking time is required and some cracks will form by the end of baking.