Recipe

Ingredients:

• 225 ml oil
• 225g vegetable shortening
• 440g sugar
• 8 eggs
• Zest of 2 oranges
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/4 cup rosewater
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 825g plain flour
• 10g vanilla sugar
• 5g mixed spices
• Blanched, roughly chopped

Instructions:

1. In a mixer beat (using the flat beater) vegetable shortening, sugar, oil, vanilla and orange zest until light and fluffy.
2. Add half of the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Also add half of the flour to the butter mixture and mix well.
3. Continue in the same way with the remaining eggs and flour.
4. Stir in the brandy, orange juice, and rosewater and finally add the almonds.
5. Pour the batter into a greased baking tin or ring and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 1 hour.

Chef’s Tips

• The ingredients should be at room temperature.
• Do not open the oven door during the first 30 minutes of baking.
• In Cyprus, before putting the New Year Cake in the oven, we place in it a coin which is wrapped in aluminum foil, so that the person in whose slice of cake the coin will be found, will be hailed as the lucky person of the New Year.

Seasonal Food Commodities

Vegetables/Salad/Herbs:

Endives, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, broccoli, beets, potatoes, leek, chicory, turnips, celery, Swiss chard, spinach, fennel bulb, avocado, dill, parsley, green beans.

Fruits:

Tangerines, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, apples, pear.

Nuts / Pulses:

Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, dried figs, raisins, lentils, white beans, louvia (black eyed peas), dried broad beans, chickpeas.

Fish:

Trout, freshwater bass, squid, octopus, mullet, whitebait, seabream.

Poultry / Meat:

Chicken, lamb, goat, beef, pork.

Traditional Dishes:

Turkey, melomakarona (Greek Christmas honey cookies), kourambiedes (Greek Christmas shortbread).