At the end of summer, in Greece, we celebrate St Fanourios who is the Saint that helps us find things (varying from objects to dreams) we have lost. It is a tradition taking place on August 27th whereupon we celebrate the Saint and do a cake, named Fanouropita (after Fanourios & pie) in his mother’s honor which we take to church, sanctify it and treat people and family. Treating is necessary, you can’t enjoy it alone!
I try to do it every year as I believe that the Saint has helped me meet some very important people in my life. So, I want to do something to honor him.
Ingredients for this cake should be of odd number. There are a lot of recipes, one of which I am going to show you here. But usually this pie doesn’t have dairy nor eggs.
Ingredients: ½ cup of raisins, ½ cup of cut walnuts or almonds, ½ kgr of whole-wheat flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder, a pinch of pink powder, 1 cup of sugar (black or white), 1 orange zest, 1 cup of fine cognac, 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of sunflower oil, 1 cup of olive oil. As a topping either caster sugar or sesame
Soak the raisins in the cognac for 20-30’. Once soaked, strain the raisins (keep the cognac for later) and add to them a tablespoon of flour and mix altogether.
In a bowl, mix the flour (except for 1 tablespoon used for raisins), the baking powder, the cinnamon and the pink powder.
In your mixer mix the orange juice, the oils, the sugar, the zest, the cognac (used to soak the raisins) and mix well in low speed. Gradually add the flour mixture. Once done, close the mixer and add the raisins and the cut almonds or walnuts and mix with your hands or using a spoon. Place your mixture in a tray where you have applied a greaseproof paper. If you use sesame, now is the time to sprinkle it on your dough.
Bake for 50-55’ in preheated oven in 160C. Check with a knife that the cake is ready before taking out of the oven.
If you prefer caster sugar, wait until the cake is ready and not hot from the oven, and sprinkle caster sugar with an infuser.
Enjoy!