Fanouropita; the Cake that reveals the Lost but not Forgotten

On 27th August the Greek orthodox celebrate the day of St. Fanourios. Little is known about His life and deeds, however traditionally St. Fanourios is associated with finding lost things or wanted things (and sometimes people).

For example you could ask for St. Fanourios help if you have lost your rolex or your keys or something else important to you. I am not sure if He will find your ex girlfriend or ex boyfriend, however many women and men in the past asked from St. Fanourios to reveal the right man or woman for them. It's a bit crazy, I know, but keep in mind that when this tradition was really trendy and hot, people didn't have Facebook or Steemit to stalk the potential husbands and wives.

Anyway, if one wanted to ask St. Fanourios to find something, or thank Him for fulfilling the request (it happens sometimes) they made the following cake the day before the celebration, that is 26th August and shared it with their neighbors and the people in the church. In my family we still do make the cake actually, but we always share it locally

For the cake you are allowed to use either 7 or 9 ingredients, but you can change the mix slightly if you like. The traditional recipe is the following.

4 cups of self rising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder or yeast

1 cup oil (olive, corn or seed)

1 cup orange juice

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of cloves

1 bowl of walnuts crashed

1 bowl of raisins

Τhe execution is Very Easy. You mix the flour with baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and then you add the oil and orange juice. You mix it again and when you have a nice sticky dough then you add the walnuts and the raisins.

You place the mix in a pan you have buttered and bake it at 180 celcius for 45 minutes.

Have you lost something important to you and wish to find it? Try the Greek tradition, and bake the Fanouropita. Before you eat and share pray to St. Fanourios to reveal the location.

Do you want to know who will marry you? Place a small piece of Fanouropita under your pillow before you sleep and pay attention to the dream and the names of the ones you'll dream of. Maybe your future significant other will be one of the people in your dream or share the same name.

In case you don't believe in any of these stories, and don't want to attract hungry ants to your pillow, you can skip the spiritual stuff and just eat the cake with ice cream. The ice cream combo is so heavenly good that you'll forget what you were looking for anyway!