Vasilopita is a special Greek dish baked for New Year's Day either as bread or a cake. This has silver or gold coins dropped in the batter and baked. The tradition holds that whoever gets it, is supposed to get good luck in the new year. There were many different recipes for this as with most family recipes. I had bookmarked two recipes, which unfortunately had about 6 eggs for 4 cups of flour. Of course, I was planning to bake only half the measurement and use 3 eggs. I was not happy with that and searched further when I landed on this site that had a cake with 4 eggs.
I decided to use Egg Replacer and proceeded with the cake. While this site asked for the rind of one lemon, most other sites cited 2 to 3 tsp. That's what makes this cake different from the regular vanilla sponge cake. I tried my best to grate the rind, I got around a quarter tsp of the rind. The cake had a very faint aroma of lemon in it. The cake was really super spongy as it has 3 tsp baking powder. I double-checked a couple of times just to make sure I wasn't adding too much baking powder.
This cake has just the powdered sugar for drizzling on top. I clicked, sliced, and served plain to the elders, while I knew my kids won't touch it plain. So for them, I frosted with Dark Chocolate Ganache, which really took this to a different level.
I have other greek dishes like Carrot Cake, Greek Style Savory Onion Pancakes, Chickpea Fritters and Tzatziki
Vasilopita ~ Greek New Year’s Cake
Today is V for Vasilopita from Greece
In the ABC Bake around the World series:
A for Afghan Biscuit from New Zealand
B for Brownie from the United States
C for Cheese Crackers with Parmesan from Italy
D for Devil’s Food Cake from the United States
E for English Muffin Bread from the United Kingdom
F for Fougasse from France
G for Garlic Bread from India
H for Hot Cross Bun from England
I for Ischler Cookies are from Austria
J for Johnny Cake from Belize
K for Kugelhopf from Europe
L for Lekach from Germany
M for Mupotohayi | Chimodho from Zimbabwe
N for Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies from Italy
O for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Scotland
P for Peanut Cookies from China
Q for Qurabiya from Iran
R for Russian Rose Bread from Russia
S for Sekerpare from Turkey
T for Tahini and Almond Cookies from Israeli
U for Umm Ali from the Middle East
Step by Step Pictures for making Eggless Vasilopita
Eggless Vasilopita ~ Greek New Year’s Cake
Preheat oven to 170C.
Mix the Egg Replacer with 6 tbsp water and blend well.
Cream butter with sugar until light, then add the egg replacer mix and continue blending till well done.
Next add the baking powder, flour in turns, and mix. Slowly add the milk and blend the batter until creamy.
Grease and line an 8inch round baking tray, pour the batter and pat it down.
Bake for 40 to 45 mins at 170C
Allow it to cool before drizzling powdered sugar on top.
As per tradition, the greek drop in silver or gold coins, I skipped this.
I served the plain cake with sugar on top to the elders, for the kids, gave it with dark chocolate ganache. It disappeared in no time.
Recipe
Eggless Vasilopita ~ Greek New Year’s Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour sifted
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Egg Replacer mixed with 6 tbsp of water for two eggs
- 3/4 cup Milk
- Lemon Rind grated, from 1 lemon
- Sugar powdered for drizzling on top
- Silver or Gold Coin (I skipped)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 170 C.
- Mix the Egg Replacer with 6 tbsp water and blend well.
- Cream butter with sugar until light, then add the egg replacer mix and continue blending till well done.
- Next, add the baking powder, flour in turns and mix. Slowly add the milk and blend the batter until creamy.
- Grease and line an 8 inch round baking tray, pour the batter and pat it down.
- Bake for 40 to 45 mins at 170 C.
- Allow to cool before drizzling powdered sugar on top.
Notes
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vaishalisabnani says
Valli this was my first search and choice for V, but gave up because of the sooo many eggs..Now I can make since you have a perfect recipe for me. The cake looks super spongy and lemon flavor is amazing in these vanilla cakes.
Next time put the lemon in the freezer, you will get excellent zest.
Sowmya:) says
The cake looks fabulous yaar. And glad you found a not so eggy version to bake...am drooling thinking of the neon flavour and topped with chocolate ganache.
Priya Suresh says
I know how delicious and soft this cake will be. Super spongy cake and loved that you baked yours as eggless. Fantastic pick for V.
Sapna says
Very soft and spongy cake that is . I would love to have a slice with some ice cream.
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan says
Spongy cake and baking with silver and gold coin sounds interesting. 🙂
Harini-Jaya R says
Most of the European countries seem to have the tradition of dropping a coin or some trinket into their cakes, right? This cake is so inviting. How did you manage to get the yellow color to the cake?
Pavani says
Wow, what a light and fluffy cake from Greece. Looks sooo delicious.
Namratha says
Wow that is a beautiful rise for an eggless cake, it looks perfect! I'm always in awe when you make all recipes eggless, I fear to tread there and cling to eggs 😀
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
What a beautiful cake this is Valli! I think between us we have covered New Year recipes from many countries around the world.
ruchi indu says
Nice cake Valli. Baking with silver and gold coins is interesting.
Sharmila - The Happie Friends Potpourri Corner says
Yummy bake!! Baking with a coin is a nice idea!!i love the texture of the cake!!
Reclusive Witch says
I am Greek but my toddler has an egg allergy. This is the first year I will be giving her vasilopita for New Years. I am about to make this recipe, but wanted to let you know that traditionally there are warm spices included in the batter. My family uses nutmeg (for this recipe I would add 1 tsp), but many use mahlepi/mahleb or mastic to flavour it. We also use orange instead of lemon in my family.