Name: Vassilopita Almond Cake 2015
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Greek Cuisine
Ingredients: 320 grams butter; 300 grams granulated sugar; 6 large eggs (300 grams); 70 blanched and roasted almonds, pulverized; 10 drops almond (or vanilla) extract; 250 grams cake flour, sifted (or 230 grams all purpose flour and 20 grams corn flour (starch)); ½ tsp salt; Zest of 1 orange; 20 grams brandy Metaxa; 50 grams roasted almonds with the skin on, finely chopped or 50 grams chocolate bites with caramelized almonds; Icing sugar to decorate

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A delicious Traditional Vassilopita Cake, infused with the aromas and blends of orange and almond, to celebrate the coming of the New year!

Vassilopita is a traditional cake made in Greece during New Year. It has a coin in it and whoever finds it will have luck during the new year!

If you want to learn about the tradition of Vassilopita or who Santa Clause was, you can read about it in my first Vassilopita recipe.

Another Vassilopita Cake

Another year has passed and here we are with the last post of the year. I am not going to write a lot because almost each year I post a different kind of Vassilopita.

At the end you will find more Vassilopita Cakes I have made over the years.

How to make this traditional Vassilopita

Before beginning, have your ingredients at room temperature and weigh the dry ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 180o C / 350o F.

While the oven is preheating roast the two kinds of almonds, separately, until lightly brown, for about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool and coarsely chop the ones with the skin on and the others pulverize them together with some flour in the food processor.
Line a 24 – 26 cm cake pan with parchment paper and butter the sides of the pan.
Sift the flour with the corn flour (starch). Use part of this flour to pulverize the blanched almonds; ,
Add the salt, orange zest as well as pulverized almonds and mix to combine.
In your mixer bowl cream the butter and sugar together for about ten minutes until white and fluffy.
Scrape the sides of your mixer bowl using a rubber spatula.
Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
Scrape again the sides of your mixer bowl, whenever necessary.
Reduce the mixer speed and add the almond or vanilla essence as well as the brandy. (If you do not want to add alcohol, you can replace it with orange juice).
Lower the mixer to the lowest speed and add flour mixture and stir until incorporated.
Stop the mixer and add the roasted almonds or the chocolate bites with caramelized almonds and mix.
Wash a coin, wipe it and wrap it in aluminium foil and put it in the batter.
Empty the batter into the cake pan, spreading the batter with the rubber spatula.
Tilt the baking tin to level the surface.
Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.
Remove pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes.
Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and reverse cake to remove the parchment paper.
Allow it to cool for an hour before decorating.
Use a cake stencil to make beautiful designs on top or just sprinkle some icing sugar.

The traditional Vassilopita is ready to be cut on the New Year’s Eve.

Alternatively, you can add buttercream or white or dark chocolate ganache on top and decorate it as you like.

This year, what makes my Vassilopita Cake different, is that it is infused with the aromas and blends of orange and almond.

My Vassilopita cake turned out to be amazing and you don’t have to wait until next year to make it because it is a perfect coffee cake.

It may not be the traditional New Year’s cake with the orange flavour but the almond flavour was exceptional!

Update 2021: This year instead of adding almond essence, I added vanilla essence and instead of coarsely chopped roasted almonds with the skin on, I added some caramelized almonds coated with chocolate.

The post was updated with a video when making this cake.

You can find many Greek recipes in my cookbooks «More Than A Greek Salad», and«Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, Flavours of Cyprus, Kopiaste!» both available on all Amazon stores. Read more here.

Vassilopita Almond Cake 2015

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A delicious Vassilopita Cake, infused with the aromas and blends of orange and almond, to celebrate the coming of the New year!

Ingredients

320 grams butter
300 grams granulated sugar
6 large eggs (300 grams)
70 blanched and roasted almonds, pulverized
10 drops almond (or vanilla) extract
250 grams cake flour, sifted (or 230 grams all purpose flour and 20 grams corn flour (starch))
½ tsp salt
Zest of 1 orange
20 grams brandy Metaxa
50 grams roasted almonds with the skin on, finely chopped or 50 grams chocolate bites with caramelized almonds
Icing sugar to decorate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180o C / 350o F.
While the oven is preheating roast the two kinds of almonds, separately, until lightly brown, for about 15 minutes Set aside to cool and coarsely chop the ones with the skin on and the others pulverize them together with some flour in the food processor.
Line a 24 - 26 cm cake pan with parchment paper and butter the sides of the pan.
Sift the flour with the corn flour (starch) Use part of this flour to pulverize the blanched almonds; ,
Add the salt, orange zest as well as pulverized almonds and mix to combine.
In your mixer bowl cream the butter and sugar together for about ten minutes until white and fluffy.
Scrape the sides of your mixer bowl using a rubber spatula.
Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
Scrape again the sides of your mixer bowl, whenever necessary.
Reduce the mixer speed and add the almond or vanilla essence as well as the brandy. If you do not want to add alcohol, you can replace it with orange juice.
Lower the mixer to the lowest speed and add flour mixture and stir until incorporated.
Stop the mixer and add the roasted almonds or the chocolate bites with caramelized almonds and mix.
Wash a coin, wipe it and wrap it in aluminium foil and put it in the batter.
Empty the batter into the cake pan, spreading the batter with the rubber spatula.
Tilt the baking tin to level the surface.
Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.
Remove pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes.
Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and reverse cake to remove the parchment paper.
Allow it to cool for an hour before decorating.
Use a cake stencil to make beautiful designs on top or just sprinkle some icing sugar.
Alternatively, you can add buttercream or white or dark chocolate ganache on top and decorate as you like.