Greek Recipes
Vasilopita (Greek New Year’s Cake)
Prep
15 minutes
Cook
40 minutes
Yield
8 -10 slices
Vasilopita is a fun, traditional Greek cake made for New Year's Day. Hide a coin in the batter for one lucky person to find for good luck going into the new year.
Vasiolopita is a Greek cake that is prepared for New Year’s Day. This cake signifies good luck due to it having a hidden coin or trinket baked right inside of it. Whoever finds the coin in their slice is believed to have good luck for the coming year. Outside of just the idea of being blessed with the hidden lucky coin, the flavor of Vasilopita is so good. It is slightly sweet, and flavored with citrus zest, and sometimes cloves or cinnamon.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Vasilopita
- Fun: This is such a fun tradition that you can start with your family every new year. I used to love doing this with my family as a kid and it’s so nostalgic for me.
- Easy to Make: Vasilopita is so easy to make. It takes only about 15 minutes to prep and then your oven does the rest of the work.
- Traditional: This recipe is a traditional Greek recipe but even if you’re not Greek you can make it a new tradition in your household.
🍲 Ingredients
Oranges – This recipe calls for orange juice and orange zest. I like using freshly squeezed orange juice for the best flavor. You could totally play around here with other citrus fruits, but the traditional Vasilopita uses oranges. Bonus! They add a little vitamin C into your cake.
Vanilla – The key to picking the right vanilla to have in your pantry is to ensure you are buying pure vanilla extra and not artificial vanilla flavoring. Both are usually readily available in your grocery store but one is more authentic and flavorful.
👩🍳 How to Make Vasilopita
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 10 inch spring form pan with butter. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the eggs and sugar and use a hand mixer to beat the eggs and sugar until creamy and pale in color, about 1-2 minutes.
- To the egg and sugar mixture add the olive oil, 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice, whole milk, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix together with the hand mixer on low speed to fully combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until well combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and gently place the foil-wrapped coin into the batter. Smooth out the top of the cake batter and then bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before gently removing it from the pan to fully cool. Once cooled, sprinkle icing sugar over the top of the whole cake and then use the pomegranate seeds to make the new year number (i.e. 2025, 2026, etc) on top of the icing sugar (see photos in the blog post).
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Other Greek Desserts: If you love this recipe, try our Portokalopita (Greek Orange Phyllo Cake).
- Hiding the Coin: When adding the coin to the batter, ensure it’s well-hidden. Wrap the coin in a small piece of aluminum foil to prevent it from touching the batter directly. Gently fold the coin into the batter and make sure it’s fully submerged.
- Don’t Overmix: Overmixing the batter can make the cake tough. Gently fold in the flour and egg whites to avoid overmixing.
🗒 Substitutions
With baking, it’s hard to make too many substitutions. However, here are a few that won’t alter the recipe too much:
- Olive Oil: You can swap olive oil for vegetable oil or avocado oil instead.
- Orange Juice: Fresh orange juice is best but you can opt for bottle orange juice instead. You can also swap orange juice for a mixture of other citrus juices for different flavors.
- Icing Sugar: Traditionally you top Vasilopita with icing sugar but you could totally ice this cake with any kind of icing you please.
🗒 Best served with
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store leftover Vasilopita in an airtight container for 3-4 days on your counter. You can also freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
🤔 Common Questions
Orange zest is traditional, but you can also use lemon zest or a combination of citrus fruits.
Insert a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Yes, you can substitute the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour blends. Just ensure it is a 1:1 substitution ratio.
Yes! Some regions in Greece have their own unique variations of Vasilopita, such as adding nuts, raisins, or spices.
Vasilopita (Greek New Year’s Cake)
Your Greek mommy that is. 😍 Step into my kitchen to learn how to make yummy Greek food. 🍽️💃
Ingredients
- Butter to grease the pan
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose Flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (about 2 large navel oranges)
- 2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- zest from one orange
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 Coin – wrapped in tinfoil
- icing sugar
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 10 inch spring form pan with butter. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the eggs and sugar and use a hand mixer to beat the eggs and sugar until creamy and pale in color, about 1-2 minutes.
- To the egg and sugar mixture add the olive oil, 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice, whole milk, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix together with the hand mixer on low speed to fully combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until well combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and gently place the foil-wrapped coin into the batter. Smooth out the top of the cake batter and then bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before gently removing it from the pan to fully cool. Once cooled, sprinkle icing sugar over top of the whole cake and then use the pomegranate seeds to make the new year number (i.e. 2025, 2026 etc) on top of the icing sugar (see photos in the blog post).
Notes
- The cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
- If you love this recipe, try our Portokalopita (Greek Orange Phyllo Cake)
