Vasilopita

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup blanched, slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon mahlab or 1 tablespoon anise seed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• A coin or hard candy

Steps

To Prepare:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and butter both a 9-inch round cake pan and a 4-inch round cake pan.

To Make the Cake:

1. In a small bowl, combine the almonds, brown sugar and honey and put aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mahlab in a medium bowl and put aside. Cream the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl until fluffy and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, mixing thoroughly.

To Bake the Cake:

1. Scatter one-third of the nut mixture evenly across the bottoms of the two prepared pans. Put enough batter in the smaller (4-inch) pan to fill it two-thirds, then put half the remaining batter in the larger (9-inch) pan. Bake both cakes for 20 minutes, until somewhat firm. Scatter half the almond mixture left over evenly across both and place the coin on one partly baked cake. Top each with the batter left over. Bake another 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife inserted in each center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

To Serve:

1. Take the cakes out of their pans and stack the smaller on the larger. Top with the remaining almond mixture and offer warm.