Vasilopita / Βασιλόπιτα
Vasilopita (New Year’s Cake) translates to St Basil’s cake, Santa Claus (Άγιος Βασίλης) or King, and is traditionally made on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the New Year.
The 1st January is a double celebration for my family as it is the name day of my second son, Vasos, and my older sister Vasoulla.
There are various recipes for this cake, some are made with yeast (sweet bread), into Tsoureki (brioche) or cake, some have fruit in it and some are shaped into a large coil. Vasilopita can be decorated with icing sugar, chocolate, soft icing or almonds, the choice is yours. The cake is cut shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve or early morning on New Year’s Day by the head of the household.
A gold coin or a £1 coin is wrapped in baking paper and inserted into the cake before it is baked. Whoever receives the slice containing the coin is greeted with lots of cheers, for this is a sign of good luck and fortune in the coming year. The first slice goes to Christ, then the oldest member of the family, finishing with the youngest.
Ingredients (serves 8-10)
250g soft butter
250g caster sugar
4 large organic eggs, at room temperature, separated
Grated zest of an orange and juice
100ml (4fl oz) yoghurt or milk
4 tbsp brandy
½ tsp ground mahlepi (optional) or ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground mastic – gum (optional)
½ tsp mixed spice
400g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Few drops of vanilla extract
100g sultanas (optional)
To decorate:
200g chocolate (optional) melted over a pan of boiling water
Blanch whole almonds (optional)
Icing sugar
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 170c / 325f / Gas mark 3. Grease and base-line a 24cm (9 ½ inch) round cake tin.
Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a very clean bowl until stiff.
Cream the butter with a hand electric whisk until very fluffy and light. Add the sugar and whisk again, then gradually add the egg yolks, one at a time with the orange zest, orange juice, yoghurt or milk, brandy, vanilla and spices.
Sift in the flour with the baking powder, a bit at the time and mix lightly with a wooden spoon until smooth. If you are adding sultanas, mix them in as well.
Fold in the egg whites a bit at a time and pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Don’t forget to insert the coin in the side of the cake, never the middle (the coin has to be covered with foil first or cling film), gently level the top and if you are going to decorate the cake with almonds, add them at this point.
Place the cake in the pre-heated oven for 45-50 minutes – do not open the oven too early or the cake will crack on top; open the oven gently after 25 minutes and cover the cake with double greaseproof paper or foil.
Bake the cake for another 25 minutes and test it with a fine skewer – pierce in the centre, if it comes out clean it’s ready, remove from the oven, allow the cake to cool in the tin for at least 10-15 minutes, then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack.
If you are dusting with icing sugar, place a lace paper doily on top and sift icing sugar all over, carefully remove the doily so the pattern remains on the cake.
NB: The cake can be decorated with the number of the coming year using blanched whole almonds, this is done before the cake is baked, or cut numbers with ready to roll icing and stick on top.
Χρόνια πολλά! Happy New Year! Let’s hope 2021 is a better one!
