Every Greek home has its own version of Vasilopita, the beloved New Year’s cake baked with hope, ritual, and a touch of magic. Just after midnight, families gather as the cake is blessed and sliced in a set order—first for the home, then for Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the hosts, the poor, Saint Basil, and finally for everyone present. Hidden inside is a single gold coin, said to bring a year of good fortune to whoever finds it.
I’ve never been one for eating cake at midnight—especially after a generous feast and a little too much celebrating—so in our house, we honour the tradition by cutting the cake, discovering who will be the lucky one, and saving the eating for the following day. Warmed gently, it becomes wonderfully soft and springy, and is even better with cinnamon buttercream, Chantilly cream or a handful of fresh fruit. However you enjoy it, this fragrant, spiced cake is a beautiful way to welcome the year ahead.
The photo is by Phil Rigby for Cumbria Life magazine.
Ingredients
- 375g self-raising flour
- ½tsp ground cinnamon
- ½tsp ground cloves
- 5 eggs
- 300g caster sugar
- 325g butter, melted
- 100g sultanas
- 100g whole almonds, roasted and roughly chopped
- Zest of 1 orange
- Icing sugar for dusting
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160C/140 fan/gas 3.
- Grease and dust with flour a 24cm loose-bottomed cake tin.
- In a bowl, sift the flour with the dried spices.
- In a second bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add half the melted butter and half the flour mixture and fold in. Add the rest of the butter and flour mix, together with the sultanas, almonds and orange zest. Incorporate fully, folding gently.
- Pour the cake mix into the tin. Tap the tin onto the counter surface a couple of times to get rid of any bubbles in the cake mix. Place in the oven.
- After 60 minutes test that the cake is cooked by inserting a thin knife or skewer into the centre. (Resist the temptation to open the oven door too early if you don’t want the cake to collapse when it cools). The knife/skewer should come out clean. If it is at all sticky, return the cake to the oven for a few more minutes and check again. I usually bake it for 70 minutes, but temperatures vary from oven to oven.
- When ready, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool. Insert a coin into the underside of the cake somewhere near the centre.
- Decorate the cake. The tradition is to dust icing sugar over cut-outs of the numbers of the new year, but you can use any image you like.