Best served at a big family breakfast, this coffee cake rings in the first morning of the new year in Greece. You can easily recognize the cake by its tiered shape, with a small round cake set on top of a large round cake. It is usually flavored with anise seed or mahlab (the ground pit of a Mediterranean wild cherry). The Greek tradition is to serve the cake to the youngest first, then the next to youngest, and so on, working up in age, and the person who finds the hidden coin or trinkets will have good luck for the year.
Hazelnut-Anise-Chocolate Chip Vasilopita
Replace the almonds with chopped hazelnuts and the mahlab with anise seed. Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips to the nut mixture.
Raspberry-Yogurt Vasilopita
Replace the milk with yogurt. Add 1 cup fresh raspberries to the center of the cakes, along with the almond mixture and coin, during the baking.
Seed Wedding Cake
In Greece everyone is required to eat sees at weddings to wish the happy couple a fertile life. Replace the nuts with 3/4 cup sunflower seeds or poppyseeds and serve the cake at a wedding brunch.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 1 cake (serves 8 to 10)
Ingredients
Preparation
To Prepare:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and a 4-inch round cake pan.
To Make the Cake:
Step 2
Combine the almonds, brown sugar, and honey in a small bowl, and set aside. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and mahlab in a medium bowl, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, and mix well.
To Bake the Cake:
Step 3
Divide one-third of the nut mixture between the two prepared pans, scattering it in an even layer over their bottoms. Fill the smaller (4-inch) pan two-thirds full of batter, then pour half of the remaining batter into the larger (9-inch) pan. Bake both layers for 20 minutes, until the cakes become a bit firm. Sprinkle half of the remaining almond mixture in an even layer over both cakes, and lay the coin on top of one of the partly baked cakes. Pour the remaining batter on top of each cake. Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of each comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes.
To Serve:
Step 4
Remove the cakes from their pans, and place the smaller one on top of the larger. Top with the remaining almond mixture, and serve warm.
Recipe notes
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