Super belated New Year's Eve!

Well, continuing in my effort to post my backdated material, here comes New Year's Eve! I had to work from 7-10, but meanwhile everyone was assembled at Manissa and Keegan's house for a feast. Manissa, Keegan, and Beth were cooking up a storm all day, creating delicious Indian dishes such as cucumber raita and peas pulao. There was so much food that even when I showed up at 11, after 25 people and four hours, there was still plenty of food.

Beth, visiting from her new home in Michigan, made a special New Year's orange and brandy cake. This traditional Greek cake has a coin inside; whoever finds the coin first is supposed to have good luck and wealth for the new year. Beth explained that, "While we're not Greek, it was always my family's tradition to bake a new years cake with a coin inside. This was the first time I used this orange brandy recipe and I definitely think I'll do it again. I especially like the detail of spelling out the year on top in almonds." (Note that this picture is upside-down, and that the almonds spell out 2009 on top). The cake was light and airy, with a powerful but not overwhelming orange flavor. Too bad it's only made once a year!

New Year's Orange Brandy Cake
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, or a combination of butter and margarine
• 1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Whole blanched almonds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 10-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light yellow and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the butter or butter and margarine and beat for 1 minute more. Beat in the orange juice and brandy.

Whisk together the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and the zests in another large bowl. Add to the yolk mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until incorporated.

In a large clean bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the pan and shake gently to even the top. Decorate the top with almonds.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour, or until it is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack before removing from the pan and serving.