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Vasilopita recipe (New Year’s Day cake)
January 2, 2020
Vasilopita (‘Basil-pie’ or ‘king pie’) is a New Year’s Day bread or cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver, like the Western European king cake. It is associated with Saint Basil’s day, January 1, in most of Greece, but in some regions, the traditions surrounding a cake with a hidden coin are attached to Epiphany or to Christmas. It is made of a variety of dough, depending on regional and family tradition.
In Cyprus, we eat the Vasilopita on New Year’s Day during the family gathering and the person who finds the hidden coin in their slice will have good luck throughout the year.