Greek Vasilopita
A Greek new year cake. A coin is baked in the cake. The slices are passed out in order from oldest to youngest. The one who gets the coin will have good luck for the year.
Ingredients
Serves: 14
- 250g butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups (360g) white sugar
- 5 eggs
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 3 cups (380g) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup (60g) blanched slivered almonds
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Directions
Preparation:30min ›
Cook:1hour10min ›
Ready in:1hour40min
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
- In a large bowl, blend together the butter and the sugar. Separate 3 of the eggs; add the yolks and the 2 remaining whole eggs to the butter mixture. Stir in the vanilla and water.
- In another bowl, sift together the baking powder and flour. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.
- Whisk 3 egg whites until they are foamy. Add 1 tablespoon sugar. Continue to whisk the whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Fold whisked whites into batter.
- Pour the batter into a greased 25cm ring tin. Wrap a large coin in foil then place the coin in the batter. Press the coin down; it should be completely hidden. Sprinkle the nuts and seeds on top of the batter.
- Bake the cake for about 70 minutes, or until done. Cool on a wire rack.
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Reviews and Ratings
Global Ratings:
(20)
Reviews in English (17)
I baked this cake for my family's New Year's day brunch. Being Greek, I can tell you that this was much closer to the traditional recipe than you would find in a bakery. It's denser and has a lighter flavour. Everyone loved it and commented on how it was much better than store bought version. My 3 year old nephew ate an entire piece by himself! A definite keeper. - 02 Jan 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I thought this cake taste great. I put several$1 coins wrapped in foil. Everyone thought it was fun. This cake tastes like pound cake. If anyone finds it to sedate, it would go very well with chocolate sauce and whipped cream or strawberries and vanilla ice cream. - 15 Jan 2002 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This is indeed a traditional Greek recipe. Almonds and the sesame seeds are not essential but definitely add to the flavour. The sesame seeds in particularly are used a lot by Greek Bakers. - 31 Dec 2002 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)