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Image from above of the baked vasilopita

Vasilopita – Greek New Year’s Eve cake

Course Dessert
Cuisine Greek
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
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.