Vasilopita
Greek New Year Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 cup Butter ( I use salted )
- 3 cups AP flour
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup warm milk (110F)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp citrus juice ( see #1 below )
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar ( see #3 below )
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Grease a 10" cake or springform pan. Lining with parchment paper also works.
- Cream the sugar and butter until light and floofy.
- Stir in the flour, and mix until the mixture is fairly smooth.
- Mix in the eggs, one at a time (see #2 below).
- Stir the baking powder into the milk, add to the batter, and mix well.
- Mix the baking soda and citrus juice, and quickly stir into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes, add the coin ( see #3 ), and return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes. Toothpick test after a total of 40, and test every 3 minutes after that.
- Remove from pan, and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before dusting/glazing (see #4) and serving.
Notes
- Either orange or lemon works great, vanilla extract will do if you don't have citrus handy. A bit of zest is also a great touch.
- Some recipes call for less leavening, and making a meringue with the whites and folding in the other ingredients to make the cake more floofy. The jury's still out on which is better, but this version is the easiest I know.
- The lucky coin can be added halfway through the baking, by gently pushing it flat into the top of the cake, off to one side, or cutting a slit, adding the coin, and then covering the damage with the icing. The coin itself should be completely sterilized, wrapping it in foil isn't a bad idea, and you might be able to find an appropriate coin at your local Greek market.
- Instead of dusting with powdered sugar, you can finish this with a sugar glaze that's also infused with some citrus or vanilla.