This one takes the cake… !
Money Cake Tradition adds a fun new twist to your favorite celebration!
Recently, I was planning a birthday party when someone asked if I’d ever heard of the “money cake tradition.”
Having always preferred chocolate myself, but intrigued by the idea, I asked her what that was!
A fun tradition for our neighbors to the north
Turns out in Canada, the money cake tradition is fairly common. It’s not certain where this tradition began, and the specifics of how the cake is made and served can vary from family to family. But in the most common version of the money cake tradition, coins are baked inside of a cake – usually for a birthday, but also to celebrate special occasions like holidays, anniversaries, or graduations.
Some of the most popular coins used in Canada for the money cake tradition are “loonies” and “toonies” ($1 and $2 coins). Here in the U.S., “golden” dollars (like Native American and Presidential issues, or Kennedy half dollars) would be a perfect choice!
It’s all Greek…
Turns out there’s also an earlier version of the tradition – the Greek Vasilopita. This is a bread, cake or pie served each January 1 to honor St. Basil.
According to legend, Basil was serving as archbishop of Caesarea when the emperor levied a hefty tax on the people. The tax was so excessive, citizens were forced to give up all they had – including precious family heirlooms – just to avoid debtor’s jail. Seeing this, Basil called for the emperor to repent – and he did, returning all payments to the city!
A blessing in disguise!
Unfortunately, there was no way to tell who had paid what. After praying for guidance, Basil baked all of the treasure into a large pita and invited the town to the cathedral where – after blessing the pita – he sliced a piece for each person.
The tale holds that, remarkably, every person received back exactly what they had paid in!
That’s how it’s said that the money cake tradition began. Today, it’s popular to serve vasilopita each January 1. Though each family’s routine can vary, typically the vasilopita is baked with a single coin in it. It’s sliced and served to family members from oldest to youngest, and whoever finds the coin in their piece is promised good fortune for the coming year.
Some assembly required
The tricky part is getting the coins into the cake. Most people have a hard time getting past the idea of coins being baked into their food! Some suggestions that are regularly tossed out there are to wash your coins before placing them in the cake batter (which, as collectors, we know that cleaning your coins is a big NO! Then again, baking coins isn’t tops on a collector’s to-do list, either…). You can also ask for newer coins from a bank.
Next, wrap the coins in an oven-safe material like waxed paper, parchment paper or aluminum foil. Mix up your favorite cake batter, and pour half into your pan. Place the coins in their oven-safe pockets throughout the batter, and then pour the remaining batter over the top and bake as usual. Voila! The coins will bake throughout the cake, creating a welcome surprise for anyone who finds one (or more!) within their piece.
Once the cake has cooled, simply frost, slice and serve. But when you do, you might want to warn your guests that a surprise awaits (a chipped tooth would certainly ruin the fun)! People of all ages will have a great time discovering the hidden treasures inside their sweet treat.
Have you ever heard of the money cake tradition before – or better yet, have you tried it yourself? What are your favorite ways to celebrate a special occasion? I’d love to hear about them below!
Thanks for sharing this i’m going try this with my favorite apple cake and coin for a birthday surprise for my ham group.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
I’m Canadian and didn’t realize that the whole world didn’t do this. My mom baked coins in angel food cake, for our birthdays. It was pretty exciting to get a coin but everyone did.
I’m about to do this for my daughter tomorrow.
Happy birthday to your daughter, Michelle!
Can you put wrapped coins in after you bake the angel food cake??
Hi Betty – even though the tradition is to bake the coins into the cake, I would imagine you could cut slits into an already-baked cake to “hide” the coins if you’d like! If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Yes, my grandmother used to wrap the coins in little bits of waxed paper and would insert them in the baked cake before she iced it. She would always make sure that I got the piece with the quarter in it (the rest were nickels and dimes). This was in the 50’s so a quarter was a BIG deal!!
This was my father’s family tradition (from Canada?). As a newlywed, my mother forgot the coins for her mother-in-law’s cake, so she put them in the stuffing for the Stuffed Game Hens at dinner, but forgot to tell anybody – Grandpa almost chipped a tooth! Later, every year, my mother boiled an assortment of coins in a pot on the stove, then dropped them naked into the batter.
At my 1st birthday party, she invited the neighbor kids and baked two sheet cakes (including the coins). She found the older kids out by the trash can, pawing through their cake for money & throwing it away. As a kid, I was the only one of my friends who ever had money in my birthday cake.
When my Grandpa turned 65, I helped Grandma wrap a $100 bill in tinfoil and we baked it into his birthday cake, marking his first slice with toothpicks.
Great stories Ann! Thank you for sharing such fun memories!
Not a new thing-it’s a Canadian tradition, at least on the East Coast where I grew up.
It’s a pretty neat tradition! I wish my parents knew about it when I was a kid!