You know from my previous year’s post that every New Year’s Day in Greece we have the custom of Vasilopita, which basically is a cake or a tsoureki with a coin in it. We cut pieces of this cake/tsoureki and whoever wins the coin is the lucky of the year. You can find the whole story here.
This year I was sick and so was my husband, but I thought it would be bad luck not to have a vasilopita in our house. So, I took my tissues, blew my runny nose, washed my hands and started making the pie.
Every year I like to use different recipes for my vasilopita. So, for this year I chose the Majestic and Moist Honey Cake from Smitten Kitchen. Of course I made some changes to adjust it to our taste buds. I had tried it before and I knew it was really good, plus among the ingredients there were honey, cinnamon and brown sugar which are favorite of mine.
It was delicious, I strongly recommend it to you and it remained moist down to the last piece which was consumed 5 days after the making of the cake. You can taste the cinnamon and honey and it is perfect with a cup of coffee, tea or chocolate.
By the way the coin went to my husband. He is the lucky one of this year. But as I told him he is the lucky one ever since he married me right? Lol.
So, let’s see how I made it.
Saint Basil’s Pie for 2012 (Vasilopita)
Ingredients
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
4 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground all spice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup tea (the recipe called for strong coffee, but I prefer to use tea)
½ cup fresh orange juice (you can use canned if you cannot find fresh)
The recipe called for ¼ cup whiskey but I completely omitted that and there was no problem with the recipe.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 175° C/350° F.
Take a round pan with diameter 29cm/11in butter it and flour it.
In your mixer add all the dry ingredients and then pour all the wet ingredients. Start mixing at low speed and then increase it to medium and continue to mix until everything is incorporated.
Pour the batter to the pan and bake for about 60 to 75 minutes. To my oven took about 70 minutes to bake it. Remove from the oven, let it stand and then remove it from the pan. I dusted some caster sugar on top; you can decorate it any way you like!
Note: I know that many of you use inches, ounces and Fahrenheit. So to make it easier for you I have put a unit converter on the right widget area of my blog. Feel free to use it.
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground all spice
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup honey
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup tea (the recipe called for strong coffee, but I prefer to use tea)
- ½ cup fresh orange juice (you can use canned if you cannot find fresh)
- The recipe called for ¼ cup whiskey but I completely omitted that and there was no problem with the recipe.
- Preheat oven to 175° C/350° F.
- Take a round pan with diameter 29cm/11in butter it and flour it.
- In your mixer add all the dry ingredients and then pour all the wet ingredients. Start mixing at low speed and then increase it to medium and continue to mix until everything is incorporated.
- Pour the batter to the pan and bake for about 60 to 75 minutes. To my oven took about 70 minutes to bake it. Remove from the oven, let it stand and then remove it from the pan. I dusted some caster sugar on top; you can decorate it any way you like!
- 3 ½ φλυτζάνια αλεύρι για όλες τις χρήσεις
- 1 κ.σ. μπέικινγκ πάουντερ
- 1 κ.γ. σόδα
- ½ κ.γ. αλάτι
- 4 κ.γ. τριμμένη κανέλα
- ½ κ.γ. τριμμένο γαρίφαλο
- ½ κ.γ. τριμμένο μπαχάρι
- 1 φλυτζάνι καλαμποκέλαιο
- 1 φλιτζάνι μέλι
- 1 ½ φλιτζάνια ζάχαρη
- ½ φλιτζάνι καστανή ζάχαρη
- 3 μεγάλα αυγά
- 1 κ.γ. εκχύλισμα βανίλιας ή δύο βανιλλίνες
- 1 φλιτζάνι τσαγιού τσάι
- ½ φλιτζάνι φρέσκο χυμό πορτοκαλιού (μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε κουτιού εάν δεν μπορείτε να βρείτε φρέσκο)
- Προθερμαίνουμε το φούρνο στους 175 ° C.
- Παίρνουμε ένα ταψί στρογγυλό με διάμετρο 29 cm το βουτυρώνουμε και το αλευρώνουμε.
- Στο μίξερ προσθέστε όλα τα στεγνά συστατικά και στη συνέχεια ρίξτε όλα τα υγρά συστατικά.
- Ξεκινήσετε την ανάμιξη με χαμηλή ταχύτητα και στη συνέχεια αυξήστε σε μεσαία έως ότου όλα έχουν ενσωματωθεί.
- Ρίξτε το χυλό στο ταψί και ψήστε για 20 λεπτά στη χαμηλή σχάρα και μετά ανεβάστε στο μέσο του φούρνου και ψήστε για άλλα 40 με 55 λεπτά ή εως ότου έχει ψηθεί και εσωτερικά.
- Επειδή η ποσότητα είναι μεγάλη εγώ το χωρίζω σε δύο ταψάκια και τα ψήνω για λιγότερο χρόνο.
- Αφού τα βγάλω από το φούρνο και κρυώσουν βάζω το ένα στην κατάψυξη για να το καταναλώσουμε αργότερα.
