Karithopita, or Grecian Walnut Torte

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The holidays are well and truly over – and I just finished dropping off all my Christmas letters at the post office (better late than never).  It always takes me longer than most (normal) people to send out my Christmas cards because I feel compelled to write something personal in each card to make up for their tardy arrival.  But in doing so, I refresh old memories of why I’m sending my card-letter to that person in the first place.  So, for me, it’s a reaffirmation of our friendship, which makes the effort endearing to me.

I get the same reminder when I make a recipe from an old friend or family member.  Because I was thinking about friendships based on Christmas cards, this morning I also thought about friendships based on shared recipes.  And for some reason, I thought of the intro to a cooking demo recipe I’d done years ago at a Greek festival, so I just had to look it up:

This recipe is from the kitchen of Mrs. Evans (Esther) Sakellariou of Chicago, who gave it to her friend, my grandmother, Mrs. Spero (Mary) Apostol, who gave it to her daughter, my mother and friend, Mrs. George (Cleo) Andrews, who gave it to me.

I know that Mrs. Sakellariou and my Γιαγιά Mary were dear friends because they once tried to set me up with the dear friend’s pride-and-joy-son.  (He was very nice but there really wasn’t any chemistry and he ended up happily married to someone else, as did I.)  But it was still flattering to be considered.  And the recipe they shared was for a killer karithopita, or Grecian Walnut Torte as Esther called it.  Basically, karithopita is a cake made with ground walnuts (usually) and moistened with simple syrup.  It’s refreshing, and because cinnamon is often included, perfect for a winter dessert.  So, in honour of friendships and delicious desserts, that’s what I’m sharing with you today.

(And Happy New Year!  Χρόνια πολλά!) 

This recipe starts by making and refrigerating a simple syrup.  It’s important this is done as the first step because the cold syrup must be poured on the hot cake as soon is it comes out of the oven – that’s the secret to the relatively dry cake absorbing the syrup into the body of the cake. 

The cake itself is fairly straight-forward: egg whites are beaten and set aside, dried breadcrumbs (interestingly, no flour, per se) are mixed with baking powder and cinnamon, egg yolks are beaten well with sugar and then melted butter.

The dry ingredients are stirred into the egg-yolk mixture, and then the egg whites are folded into the egg-yolk-dry-ingredients mixture.

The cake is baked, and as soon as it comes out of the oven, while it is still hot, the top is pierced with a bamboo stick (or fork), and the now-cold syrup is poured over.

Let the cake come to room temperature, cut it into traditional diamond shapes, and enjoy. A dollop of plain or vanilla whipped cream is a nice added touch.

Perfect for sharing with a good friend over a cup of coffee or tea…