Phanouropita Mini Bundt Cakes

I first heard of Phanouropita a few years ago when my Presvytera friend, Alexis, introduced me to them one morning at her home. She had the genius idea of making her Phanouropita (St Phanourios cake) into donuts that can easily be shared! You can read the story I shared on my blog a few years ago here. The following year, we made Phanouropita together into mini bundt cakes and it has officially become my favorite way to make them! These delightful mini cakes make for the perfect sharable treat! I’m a huge fan of food connections when it comes to celebrating feasts. St Phanourios’ feast day is August 27th, so this is a great reason to make Phanouropita!

Scroll down to read more about who St Phanourios is and the tradition of Phanouropita!

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The Tradition of the Phanouropita (Fanouropita) - The tradition of the Phanouropita (St Phanourios cake) is a Greek and Cypriot tradition, but has been adopted in many regions throughout the Orthodox world. Phanouropita is simple, vegan cake with warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and orange juice. It is typically made using either 7 or 9 ingredients (holy numbers in the Church). The faithful make this cake whenever the saint helps reveals a lost object, or anything else the person has sought to find, is found. It is also a tradition for each person to say a prayer for St. Phanourios’ mother when eating their slice of the cake. The cakes (pita) can also be brought to church to be blessed and shared with others. Another appropriate opportunity to make this cake is on his Feast Day August 27th.

mini-meyer-lemon-bundt-cakes-the-little-kitchen-191421.jpg — Phanouropita
Mini Bundt Cake Recipe

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups vegetable oil (or other seed oil)

2-1/2 cups sugar

1-1/4 cups warm water

Grated rind of 1 orange

1/2 cup orange juice (fresh orange juice is best)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

4 cups white flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Instructions

Pre-Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flower, baking powder and cinnamon together in a large bowl and set aside.
Using a wisk, combine oil and sugar until blended.
Add the warm water, orange rind, orange juice and walnuts and mix well.
Slowly add the flour mixture and combine until smooth.
Add raisins and walnuts (if adding).
Pour batter into well greased mini bundt pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
Cool on a wire rack.
Top with powdered sugar.

Recipe originally published by Figs & Feta Blog, which is no longer available online.

*** We ordered our mini bundt cake pan from Amazon which you can see here

Images source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZJDsppiAY/?utm_medium=copy_link

Who is St Phanourious (Fanourious)? In Rhodes, Greece - there was a group of pirates, who had pillaged the island of Rhodes, uncovered amid the ruins of an ancient church a group of icons, among other artifacts. All of the icons were in a state of decay or near ruin with the exception of one, which appeared as new and as fresh as though it had been painted the day before. This icon was discarded by the pirates, who failed to attach any importance to it. At a safe distance, a group of monks hiding in the rubble observed this phenomenon and waited patiently until them to leave the scene, and then they rushed to reclaim the icon in its remarkable state of preservation. They saw a clearly outlined face of a saint with the name inscribed in what appeared to be fresh lettering that spelled out "Phanourios" and on closer examination noticed there were twelve distinct frames in each of which Phanourios was shown enduring a cruel form of torture in a realism that suggested the artist must have been witness to the atrocity. They rushed back to see if any of the other icons were in as perfect a state, but although they were all of the same basic design, size, and shape, all of them were quite ancient and quite indistinct. After careful scrutiny it was finally concluded that this icon of Phanourios had, indeed, been one of a group that had been exhumed after untold centuries and that its freshness was a divine manifestation of the complete saintliness of this man about whom they were now determined to learn more. The icon of St Phanourios was lost for centuries in the ruins of a church, and became the patron saint of things lost. You can read more about his life in my August Feast Day Guide here. His feast day is August 27th!

My friend, Sylvia, of Orthodox Mom shared on her blog a beautiful icon of St. Phanourios located at the church of St. Syridon in Palos Heights, IL. St. She told her readers that Spyridon’s church also has a beautiful little book that contains the life and Paraklesis service to the saint. Call 708.385.0787 to order a copy. It is the only book available on St. Phanourios! She also shared a traditional recipe for a phanouropita here.

Happy Feasting!

Khouria Destinie

(Images courtesy of The Little Kitchen Blog)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl cream together the soft butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Place the flour, powdered sugar, salt, and butter into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until all of the butter is incorporated, about 10 to 15 one-second pulses, but could be more depending upon your food processor. It’s ready when the mixture looks like wet sand and clumps together when pressed. Stop when the mixture begins to climb up the bowl.

Bring the dough together: Dump everything onto the counter and gently press it together into a crumbly mound. I use a flexible bowl scraper to scoop and press the mound together at first, then knead the dough a few times and form it into a square shape.

Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness (depending on how thick you like your cookies) and use a round biscuit cutter to cut out circles

Using the cookie cutter as a guide, place flowers in center of the cookies. Next, cover with parchment paper and gently press flowers into the dough with a rolling pin.**

Transfer the cookies to one of the parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill the cookies on the sheet pan in the freezer for 15 minutes or until the cookies are solid to the touch. Transfer the frozen cookies, in batches, onto the other baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch between each cookie.

Bake the cookies, one pan at a time, for 15-18 minutes, or until the cookies are dry to the touch and the bottoms just begin to turn golden. Keep a close eye on the flowers to make sure they don’t get too dark. Better under cooked than over!

Cool and store: Remove from the oven and cool on a rack before transferring to a container for storage. The baked and cooled cookies can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

** White violas don’t do well in the oven. There will definitely be a few that don’t make it through the oven, so make a few more than you need. While violas are edible, make sure that they haven’t been treated with any toxic chemicals. Grocery stores often sell these.