Vasilopita: Greek New Year’s Cake with Orange and a Lucky Coin

Round vasilopita decorated with almonds on a white plate

Vasilopita is the cake Greeks cut on New Year’s Day, named after Saint Basil (Agios Vasilios), whose feast day is 1 January. A coin wrapped in foil is hidden in the batter before baking. At midnight or at the New Year’s lunch the head of the family cuts the cake: the first slice is for Christ or Saint Basil, the second for the house, and then everyone gets a slice, from the oldest to the youngest. Whoever finds the coin is said to have luck all year.

This is the soft cake version from Athens and Constantinople, fragrant with orange, mahlepi and mastic.

Serves: 12 | Prep: 25 min | Cook: 55 min

Ingredients

  • 250 g butter, at room temperature
  • 300 g sugar
  • 5 eggs, at room temperature
  • 500 g plain flour
  • 1 sachet baking powder (20 g)
  • 250 ml fresh orange juice
  • Grated zest of 2 oranges
  • 1 tsp ground mahlepi
  • ¼ tsp mastic tears, ground with 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 sachet vanillin
  • 1 coin, washed and wrapped in foil
  • 50 g blanched or flaked almonds, to decorate
  • Icing sugar, to dust

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Butter a 26 cm round springform tin and line the base with baking paper.
  2. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 8 to 10 minutes until pale and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.
  4. Mix the flour with the baking powder, mahlepi, ground mastic and vanillin. Add it to the butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the orange juice and zest, and mix only until the batter is smooth.
  5. Pour the batter into the tin, push the wrapped coin in somewhere near the edge and smooth the top. Arrange the almonds on top, or leave the top plain for icing sugar and the year.
  6. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. If the top browns too quickly, cover it loosely with foil after 35 minutes.
  7. Let the cake cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then on a rack. Dust with icing sugar and, if you like, write the new year on top with a paper stencil or with almonds.

Tips

  • Grind the mastic with a little sugar in a mortar. On its own it sticks and clumps.
  • Bake the vasilopita on 30 or 31 December. Under a cake dome it stays moist for 3 to 4 days.
  • Tell everyone about the coin before the first bite!

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Photo: Alexander Baxevanis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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