Classic Vassilopita cake - Greek traditional New Year's Cake

"Vassilopita" or “Saint Basil's Cake" is basically a sweet bread and depending on the area it comes from, the recipe differs in texture and ingredients. Some resemble to a classic sponge cake with various spices and flavours added and others resemble more to the "Tsoureki" bread (a brioche type of dough which we also prepare for the Easter period). All recipes though have one thing in common, a coin which is usually baked along with the ingredients. Sweet flavouring is added to the bread which symbolize "the sweetness and joy of life everlasting". It also symbolizes the hope that the New Year will be filled with the sweetness of life, liberty, health, and happiness for all who participate in the cake's cutting.

This, usually, takes place on New Year's Day (or often on New Year's Eve when the clock strikes midnight) and the bread is traditionally cut by the senior member of the family. The individual who receives the portion of the cake which contains the coin is considered blessed for the New Year. Each slice has a purpose starting with the piece cut in remembrance of Jesus. The second is for the Virgin Mary. The third is for St. Basil the Great, the other slices are cut for the members of the family beginning with the eldest. Slices may also be cut for the house, the traveler, the guests of that day and the poor.

This old tradition started in the last half of the 4th century, when Saint Basil the Great, who was a bishop, wanted to distribute money to the poor in his Diocese. He wanted to preserve their dignity so as not to look like charity. So, according to the legend, he commissioned some women to bake sweetened bread, in which he arranged to place gold coins. Thus the families in cutting the bread to nourish themselves, were pleasantly surprised to find the coins. St. Basil was born in 329 AD and he was one of the greatest Fathers of the Christian Church and he was Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia (in Asia Minor). He was the first person in human history to establish an orphanage for little children. He also founded the first Christian hospital in the world. His fame as a Holy Man spread very fast throughout the Byzantine world. He was considered one of the most wise and compassionate clergymen in the entire history of the Church.

His Feast Day is observed on January 1st, the beginning of the New Year and the Epiphany season. The Church, therefore, in respect for his many contributions to mankind in general, combined the joy and happiness of the New Year with the glory of the birth of Jesus and the Epiphany into what is known in the Orthodox Church as the "Vassilopitta Observance". I should mention that, for the Greeks, Saint Basil is the equevelant of Santa Claus and that's why we exchange our presents on New Year's Eve.
-----------------------------------
The following recipe of Vassilopita is only one of many versions which can be found around Greece and the one that comes closer to my mother's recipe. Beside the sweet type of New Year's cakes (which they are the most common), in some regions like Epirus and Thrace, savoury versions of this special treat can be found which they are more like pies with phyllo pastry

Ingredients (for 10-12 people):
5 eggs
250gr. of granulated sugar
250gr. of butter, melted
250gr. of all-purpose flour
15gr. of baking powder
200gr. of ground blanched almonds
2 oranges (unwaxed), the zest
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
50 ml of dark rum (or cognac or brandy)
plenty of icing sugar to dust

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Brush with butter and lightly dust with flour a round oven pan of 24cm diameter.

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat, in high speed with the whisk, the eggs with the sugar until they become fluffy and pale in colour.

Stop beating and add the butter, the flour, the baking powder, the almonds and gently stir with a spatula.

In the end add the orange zest, the vanilla extract and the rum while you keep gently stirring. Empty the batter into the pan and smooth the surface with the spatula.

Put in the oven and initially bake for 30 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 160^οC and continue baking for another 30 minutes.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave to rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Take out of the pan and transfer onto a rack. When the cake is completely cooled then dust thoroughly the whole surface with the icing sugar.

***If you'd like to follow the Greek tradition to the full, when the cake is cooled and before icing, make a small but a bit deep incision at the bottom of the cake and push a small coin in. You could also add the coin in the cake batter from the start, wrapped in a bit of aluminium foil. It doesn't affect the baking procedure at all.