A Greek cake spiced with cinnamon, cloves and walnuts
This week is the anniversary of Myra’s Dionysus Restaurant (January 28), Myra’s birthday (the 27th) and Kansas Day 1/29 (yes, she was very proud of being from Kansas).
Myra always gave away Karidopita this week to celebrate. Back in the 70s, when it was Dionysus, a Greek Restaurant, karidopita was a cake we could even make in the microwave, before the restaurant had a real kitchen. Then it became a tradition. It’s usually cut on an angle and served in cupcake paper baking cups. It’s almost like eating baklava, it’s that gooey and sweet, with a lot of walnuts.
As I was preparing this post, I talked to Joan Gilmore about what we each remember about the restaurant in the beginning. We weren’t there for the first winter, when it was so cold it broke all the records for 50 years, and all the wine she had stored in the basement froze.
It was the the following summer when Myra talked Joan into moving to Cincinnati from Detroit to help in the restaurant. I was living in NYC working as a temp and trying to make it as an actor. I said I would come and spend the summer in Cincinnati and work with Joan. She and I lived in the little 2-room apartment behind the restaurant (no rent!) with my brother’s full-grown German Shepherd. After living in New York City, it didn’t seem crowded or strange at all.
Myra was one of the first to use a commercial microwave to heat things since we didn’t have a kitchen so we made Karidopita cupcakes in the microwave! We had a spit for gyros meat and a crockpot for making lentil soup. We made yogurt in a Styrofoam cooler with a hot pad in the bottom. So many of my friends (many of them my fellow actors) worked at mom’s restaurant. She taught them all to cook. And bake. And wait tables. We always had a job when we needed it, and many times there was an apartment up above the restaurant that they could rent when they needed a place to live.
My summer job turned into living in Cincinnati for 15 years. While there, I helped to start 2 theatre companies: Intuition Theatre and Women’s Theatre of Cincinnati. Joan lives in Cincinnati to this day.
It is truly a wonder that Myra’s Dionysus made it through the first few years! As she says in her bio, she had a lot to learn. We all had a lot to learn. So whether you worked at Myra’s Dionysus at one time, visited the restaurant to enjoy her legendary soups and dishes, or simply stumbled on this blog, we all have so many reasons to celebrate with this cake. Cheers to Myra!

Karidopita
Equipment
- 1 13 X 9 cake pan
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 small pot to make the syrup
- 1 whisk
- 1 knife and cutting board to chop up the walnuts
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 teas. each cinnamon and cloves
- 1 TBLS (half a lemon) of lemon juice can use bottled lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk and 1 tsp vinegar)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Make the syrup first. Combine 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until you have a light syrup (120 degrees). Mix in the lemon juice and set aside to cool while you make the cake.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the eggs, sugar and oil and whisk until well mixed.
- Add the cinnamon, cloves and buttermilk, blend together and slowly whisk in the flour, soda and baking powder. Add the walnuts and continue mixing until you have a smooth batter.Pour into a well greased pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake will be done when a knife or straw comes out clean in the middle.
- Leave it in the pan and cut into 16 or 32 pieces. Pour the cooled syrup over the cake while the cake is still warm. Allow it to cool completely before serving.
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