Surprise! I promised more food videos for the NEW YEAR so here is the vasilopita video. I do hope you enjoy!

 I hope you had a beautiful Christmas with your friends and family. I can’t believe that the New Year is t-minus a few days away! The countdown to New Year’s begins!

I have been making vasilopita (Greek New Year’s cake) for years and years but I was getting tired of the same cake each year. I wanted something exciting with a twist, of course. As I was talking with my friend in Athens a few days ago, we were talking about foods of course and 2 foods that came to mind were vasilopita and bougatsa. Bougatsa is a phyllo custard pie and you can find the recipe here. I loved the two ideas together but wasn’t sure how that would work, so I started on a little twist. I thought what if I created a chocolate center in the middle of the vasilopita? It worked and I really enjoyed this moist chocolatey vanilla marble-like cake. I hope you enjoy too! 

Tips for making the perfect vasilopita:

• All ingredients should be at room temperature
• The egg whites must be folded in the mix and not stirred in
• Adding toasted walnuts or almonds is a really nice addition to this cake
• You can add any zest you like from lemon, orange, mandarin, and more
• Do not forget to add the lucky coin

Vasilopita with a Twist Recipe

Servings: 6-8 

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter= 1 cup 
• 1 1/2 cups of organic sugar
• 5 eggs separated
• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
•  2 pinches of sea salt finely grind ( divide into two parts)
• 1.5 tablespoons of baking powder
• 1 orange, reserve the zest and juice
• 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or powder
• Chocolate glaze: 1/2 cup of Nutella + 2 tablespoons of milk
• Lucky coin wrapped in foil
• 1 cup of confectioners sugar for the dusting 
• Stencil for 2021
• Large springform pan lightly greased and lined with parchment paper

Method:

1. Add the butter and sugar to the mixing bowl and beat on medium-high until creamy.  Make sure the butter mixture is fully incorporated by using a spatula.  Add the vanilla, orange zest, orange juice & mix until combined.
2.  Add the egg yolks and combine. While you are waiting for the mixture to be nice and fluffy place flour, baking powder, and the first part of the salt in a bowl. 
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together then add the first half of the flour to the mixing bowl while the mixer is on low.
4. Add the yogurt to the mixer, and mix on low speed. Then add the rest of your flour mixture. Add the cinnamon and mix to combine. Do not OVERMIX!
5. Place batter in a large bowl and set aside. Prepare the egg whites. Beat the egg whites with the last part of the salt until medium peaks form. 
6. Wrap the lucky coin in foil and then toss inside your cake batter once it is done. ** I do this at the end when the batter is ready in the pan.
7. Gently fold the egg whites in the batter. Do not stir, make sure to fold. 
8. Make sure the springform pan is lightly greased. You can most certainly line the pan with parchment paper if you like. Don’t forget to add the LUCKY coin. 🙂
9. Optional: Pour melted Nutella mixture over half the cake batter. Spread evenly and this will create a fun chocolate-vanilla marble cake. **You can skip this step if you like. Spread the rest of the batter over the chocolate. 
10. Place springform pan on a baking sheet and place in oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Your cake is ready when you test the middle with a toothpick and it comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool.
11. Dust with powdered sugar. I made my own stencil by printing out a 2020 cutout. It took me a long time to make this but hey it is worth it! You can click on the link above in the ingredient list to find the same exact stencil to print. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Xronia Polla!!