Vasilopita

Vasilopita is the New Year's cake. It is cut after the change of the year and also for some period after New Year's Day.
Konstantina will tell me more about Vasilopita.

Filled with sweet or savory ingredients, traditionally decorated with the year written in almonds or walnuts (now frosting) on top, and sometimes accompanied by ‘Χ’ and ‘Π’ standing for Xronia Polla, it has a gold coin (now a euro coin or button wrapped in gold or silver foil) or flouri baked into the pita crust or filling, depending on the region of Greece.
The eldest person of the house cuts symbolic pieces for Christ, the Virgin Mary, Ag. Vassili, the church, the house, the poor and then a slice for each family member by age from eldest to youngest. Some also cut two additional slices for animals and Sparta, and some say there’s a slice for the business. Whoever gets the coin or flouri is said to have extra good luck all year.

The slices for Christ, the Virgin Mary, Ag. Vassili and the church are usually given to visitors to the home or the poor, in order to share good fortune with others. Many homes also have a special Christopsomo (Christ’s bread).

Story of the Vassilopita

In the 4th century, Ag. Vassili was the Archbishop of Caesarea, an area of Cappadocia. A local tax collector came and demanded that all the citizens of Caesarea hand over their valuables, which caused them to pool everything together in a panic and give them to Ag. Vassili. When the tax collector saw the worried look of the Archbishop, he collected nothing and took his leave.
Ag. Vassili found it difficult to return all of the valuables to their rightful owners, so he asked parishioners to bake a lot of sweet breads, inside which he placed one valuable each. When he passed out the sweet breads the next day, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find the valuable inside belonged to them.

Traditional Vasilopita's recipe

 Ingredients

• 250g margarine
• 2 teacups of sugar
• 6 eggs, preferably organic, separated
• 1 teacup of milk
• ½ k of self-rising flour
• 1 wine glass of brandy
• 1 orange (grated zest)
• ⅓ teaspoon of vanilla essence powder
• 2 teaspoons mahlab, bashed
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teacup of almonds, blanched, roasted and coarsely chopped

 Instructions

Sieve the flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Whisk the margarine, sugar and salt together, until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one by one and then add the grated zest, mahlab, vanilla, milk and brandy.
Whisk the egg whites to a thick meringue. Fold it gently to the mixture, a little at a time, alternately with the flour, with the help of a spatula. Then add the almonds and combine everything gently.
Grease with margarine a 30cm baking tin and empty the mixture in. Add the traditional coin and, if you wish, sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Bake at 180ºC, in a preheated oven, for approximately 55 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then, remove the cake from the tin and place it on a rack to cool. You may sieve some icing sugar on top.