At midnight on New Year’s Eve, families in Greece serve this simple, orange-infused cake to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. After pouring the cake batter in the pan, the baker closes his or her eyes, and secretly places a special coin into the unbaked cake, called Vasilopita. After the Vasilopita is baked and cooled, it is blessed and then sliced–one slice for each person present, one slice for the house, and, one slice for Christ. The person who finds this coin in their slice will have the best of luck for the year ahead (and also gets to keep the special coin). This is a tradition that dates back centuries to honor St. Basil, whose Name Day falls on 01 January!
Marilena’s Kitchen Update
On a personal note, it has been a year since I started this blog and posted my first recipe last year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you for spending some time this year with me, reading and experimenting with my recipes on this blog. I enjoy receiving your comments, hearing from you via e-mail and sharing our mutual love for cooking. This blog would not be still going without your continuous support and encouragement. When I first started with only a handful of close friends following this blog, I did not expect to end the year with over 10,000 views of my posts. I am deeply grateful for that and am motivated to continue to cook, style, photograph and write new posts in the New Year.
My best wishes to you and your families for a happy, healthy, inspiring and creative New Year 2016!
Greek New Year’s Cake (Vasilopita)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature or half butter and half extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large eggs (separated)
- zest of an orange
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- 3 cups AP flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- --- powdered sugar (for dusting)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10” springform pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the orange zest.
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and set aside.
- Add the flour mixture and the orange juice alternatively to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Using a hand held mixer, beat the reserved egg whites in a smaller bowl and gently fold them into the batter.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the cake starts browning before it is done, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
- When finished baking, remove from the pan and put it on a rack to cool completely. Dust with some powdered sugar and serve.
Happy New Year 2016!
Marilena,
Wishing you a wonderful, healthy, happy and prosperous new year.
All the best,
Alice
Thank you so much Alice. Happy New Year to you too! Look forward to seeing you at the school soon!
looks so yummy
It is truly a delicious and simple cake. I hope you get to try the recipe. Happy New Year to you!
Marilena, I have loved following your blog! Your recipes are the BEST, your photography is simply beautiful, and the cultural information you give with your recipes is fascinating! You have enriched us all in so many ways–THANK YOU!!! Happy New Year!!! xxxx Ratatouille 🙂
Thank you so much for your very kind words my friend! Thank you also for being a willing and enthusiastic “taste tester” of my culinary experiments throughout this past year and for always giving me your expert feedback!
I’ve made this recipe twice now since New Years, and wow is it delicious! I am gluten/dairy free, and it works beautifully with a 1:1 sub of Bob’s AP GF flour and I do half fake butter and half olive oil for the fat. This last go around, I felt a little adventurous and added almond and vanilla extract. So good! Definitely tastes like something that could have come out of my yiayia’s kitchen.
Thank you so much for sharing your comment! I really appreciate your feedback, so good to know the recipe worked well with these ingredient substitutes! I often use olive oil instead of butter, for a lighter, healthier version of this cake!
Made the Vassilopita perfectly. Αt some point as it was cooling it caved in the center.
I did not open the oven door as it baked
I followed the recipe precisely
I did use a 9 inch pan as opposed to 10
I tested in the center with a tooth pick
I took it out of the pan ten minutes later and rested it on a cooling rack…. What caused this?
Hi Tina,
I have never had that happening with vassilopita…. However, this can happen if you use a smaller size pan: As the cake bakes, the center part can collapse because it might not have completely set in the center to support it. If this the only size of pan you have, next time, save some of the batter and bake it in a small ramekin. I hope this helps!