Fanouropita Cakes
Fanouropita must have nine ingredients to work, so if you omit one, add another.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups orange juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 shot cognac (like Metaxa). No cognac? Rum works well, too. (I'm partial to Flor de Caña.)
- 4 cups sifted CAKE flour
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup golden raisins
Instructions
- Beat sugar and oil together until creamy in texture and yellow in color.
- Dissolve the baking soda into the orange juice and pour it into the sugar mixture (this is what makes the cake rise).
- Mix in vanilla, cognac, and flour. Stir in walnuts and raisins.
- Bake for 1 hour at 350, and while it's cooking, say a prayer for Agios Fanourios's wicked mother.
- Let the cake cool, then distribute it or bring it to church, keeping what you hope to find a secret. And if the man you meet as a result is lactose intolerant, go ahead and keep making this cake for him; it's dairy free.