Vasilopita with white chocolate frosting and pomegranate

                                               

My recipe for Vasilopita with white chocolate frosting and pomegranate!   

                by Eirini Voulgari

Vasilopita is a traditional Greek pie for New Year's Day. It's usually a cake but sometimes it is made with dough. There are even places in Greece where Vasilopita is a rustic savoury pie. 

It is customary to hide a precious coin in Vasilopita just before putting it in the oven. The coin should be carefully wrapped in aluminum foil. The pie is usually served after lunch on New Year's Day. The one who gets the coin is considered to have been endowed with a whole lot of blessings and good luck throughout the new year. 

For this Vasilopita I have used ordinary self rising cake flour which does not need any extra baking powder or salt. It is just a vanilla cake in a deep, round stainless steel pan (24 cm diameter). I covered the pan with baking paper before pouring the batter in, to avoid my cake sticking on the pan. I also brushed the paper with some sunflower oil. If you don't have baking paper, just brush some sunflower oil on the inside of the pan and then dust some flour on, before you pour the cake batter into it. 

Ingredients:

(all your ingredients and utensils should be at room temperature)

• 500 gr of self rising cake flour (sifted)
• 250 gr butter or sunflower oil
• some extra butter or sunflower oil for the pan
• 400 gr sugar
• 5 eggs
• 260 ml sour cream, or sour natural yogurt diluted in a little water
• a teaspoon of vanilla extract (I used the VAHINE bourbon vanilla extract which is diluted in glycose syrup.)
• baking paper

For the white chocolate frosting:

• 250 gr of white chocolate
• 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
• some nice seeds from a pomegranate
• some fresh mint leaves

Preparation:

Beat the sugar and the butter well with a mixer or a whisk. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs and beat a bit more so they are all well combined. Then add the sifted flour and the sour cream or yogurt in doses while you continue whisking, until you have a nice batter. Pour it in your prepared pan. Cover the pan with a sheet of baking paper. 

Bake the cake in moderate preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius for about an hour. After 50 minutes uncover it to let it brown on the surface. Insert a clean knife in the centre after an hour has passed, to see if it's ready. The knife should come out clean. If not, let it in for another 15 minutes and then check again. 

Frosting the pie with white chocolate and pomegranate

Once it is cooked, take it out carefully and place it on a rack which stands on a larger baking tray. Then melt the chocolate in a bain marie and mix  2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in it very well. Finally, pour the melted chocolate on the cake. Place the seeds of the pomegranate all over the chocolate before it becomes solid, so that they stick on it. Garnish with some fresh mint leaves in the middle.

Frosting Vasilopita with dark chocolate

If you prefer a dark chocolate frosting, I suggest you use plenty of orange zest instead of vanilla. Chocolate and orange zest is such an irresistible flavour combination! Roasted almonds or hazel nuts on top are a nice idea together with a holly tree twig with red berries for garnish.

Frosting Vasilopita with white or dark chocolate ganache

If you think you can consume all your Vasilopita in a couple of days, then you can frost it with a gorgeous chocolate ganache instead of plain chocolate. 

Chocolate ganache recipe

To make chocolate ganache you need chocolate and fresh cream (35% fat) in equal quantities (weight). Just grate your chocolate with a grater. Then pour the cream in a saucepan and put it on low fire. When it starts boiling remove it from the fire and put the grated chocolate in. Mix well with a whisk until the chocolate is completely dissolved. Then pour the chocolate ganache on the cake.  Let it cool and then decorate!