Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Vasilopita/Greek's New Year's Cake/Vaselopita

Happy New Year 2017!!!!

Vasilopita/Vassilopita, is a New Year's Bread or Cake in Greece which is also popularly known as Basil-pie or King Pie.  This cake is also very much known in Eastern Europs and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver as much as like West European King Cake. Since this cake is also known as Basil Pie its associated with Saint Basil's day which is celebrated every January. Vasilopita/Vaselopita is made with variety of doughs depending upon the region and family tradition. Since am trying my hands for the first time, i went with the traditional way of making this cake batter. On every New Year's day families cut Vasilopita to bless the house and bring good luck for the New year. This is usually done at midnight of New Year's Eve.


At midnight the sign of the cross is etched with a knife across the cake. A piece of cake is sliced and served to each member of the family or friends present at the time, by order of age from eldest to youngest. Slices are also cut for various symbolic people or groups, depending on local and family tradition. The most popular Vasilopita recipes are made with either Tsoureki dough or like a cake. Its very important to mix the butter and sugar thoroughly until the butter turns really fluffy and creamy.Am running this week's blogging marathon with ' Festival Special' as theme for this week's blogging marathon and i will be showcasing three different festival from Europe.


Greek's New Year Cake, Vasilopita

Recipe Source: Hicookery
For the cake:
1/2cup Butter (softened)
1cup Sugar
1+1/2 cups  Flour
3 Eggs
1/2cup Milk
1tsp Baking powder
3/4tbsp Lemon juice
1/2tsp Baking soda

For the topping:
1/3cup Walnuts (chopped)
2tbsp Sugar

Line a round baking pan with a baking sheet and keep aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture turns fluffy and creamy. Add the flour and mix until it ressembles like a coarse crumbs.

Add in an egg one at a time until they gets well mixed. Add the baking powder to the milk and pour this mixture to the egg mixture and beat until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Now mix the lemon juice to the baking soda (it will be fizzy) add this to the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter to the prepared baking pan. Add a coin in the batter.

Meanwhile, mix the sugar and walnuts in a bowl, keep aside.

Vasilopita, Vaselopita, Greek's Newyear Cake

Bake the cake to the preheated oven for 10minutes. 

Remove the cake from the oven, top it with the sugar and walnut mixture. Return to the oven and continue to bake for 20-22minutes.

Put off the oven and cool completely.

Remove the cake from pan and transfer to a serving plate.

BMLogo

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#72

16 comments:

Varada's Kitchen said... Reply To This Comment

So many different traditions centered around food! The cake looks awesome, great texture.

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

wow that golen baked cake looks so yumm book marked.

Rafeeda AR said... Reply To This Comment

This is interesting... I love how you dig in to find out so many interesting recipes from various parts of the world...

Sharmila kingsly said... Reply To This Comment

Such a beautiful bake in this New year.. Lovely Share..

Srivalli said... Reply To This Comment

Wow that cake looks so moist and crumbly Priya..bookmarking for sure!

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said... Reply To This Comment

Love the texture of the cake and you are just an encyclopedia of festive dishes from around the world :)

Jayashree said... Reply To This Comment

I loved reading about the history of this cake. Sounds like such a beautiful tradition.

Amara’s cooking said... Reply To This Comment

Such a moist cake, loves those crumbs...Yummm

Pavani said... Reply To This Comment

That is such a delicious looking cake Priya. Thanks for sharing the history behind the cake.

Archana said... Reply To This Comment

Such a beautiful cake the method is so different from the regular cakes. Thanks for sharing it.

vaishali sabnani said... Reply To This Comment

Very Inte read, the cake looks fantastic, but why the coin? Is it some kind of tradition ?

Padmajha said... Reply To This Comment

Nice to read about how this bake. Cake looks scrumptious...

Priya Suresh said... Reply To This Comment

@vaishali sabnani Its believed that adding coin brings wealth to the family, hope this helps.

Harini R said... Reply To This Comment

I read about the tradition of a trinket buried in cake in a book a long time before. This cake sounds very much like what I read ages ago. Beautiful looking cake, Priya.

cookingwithsapana said... Reply To This Comment

Such a delicious looking cake. Love reading the story behind it.

preeti garg said... Reply To This Comment

Looks Delicious.. nice complement for tea.