Vassilopita (Greek New Year's Cake) flavoured with mahleb

One more recipe for this special (only once a year made) traditional cake! This version includes a spice with such a distinctive aroma and taste and it's not other than the mahleb ("mahlepi" in Greek). Only the seed kernels are used and because of it's strong aroma only a very small quantity is enough to enrich various breads and cakes. *** For more tasty ideas for a Vassilopita cake check out the relative category

Recipe of Argyro Barbarigou,
a prominent Head Cook

Check out her site Argiro for more Festive recipes

Ingredients (for 12 people):
250gr. of margarine
2 tea-cups of sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 tea-cup of fresh milk, lukewarm
500gr. of self raising flour
1 wine glass of cognac (brandy)
1 orange, the zest
1 vanillin tube or 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tsp of mahleb seeds, crushed
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tea-cup of blanched almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
almond flakes for decoration

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift the flour together with the baking powder in a bowl.

Beat the margarine along with the sugar and the salt until they become pale in colour and creamy. Add the egg yolks one by one and then add the orange zest, the mahleb, the vanillin, the milk and the cognac.

Beat the egg whites into a stiff meringue. In turns, add into the egg yolks mixture, the flour and the meringue, stirring gently with a spatula so not to ruin the meringue. In the end add the almonds and again stir gently.

Grease a round oven pan of 30cm diameter with some butter and empty the batter in it. Gently stir in a small coin (wrapped in aluminium foil) and scatter on top the almond flakes. *** Very often people decorate the surface with the almond flakes "writing" the year that it is due to come (2012) or a wish like "Happy New Year" and it looks very nice after the cake is baked.

Put the Vassilopita in the oven and bake for about 50-55 minutes. Leave the cake to stand for 5 minutes before you turn it out onto a rack to cool completely.

If you want you can sprinkle on top with some icing sugar.