What is Armenian Round Gata? At its most basic, it is a lightly sweetened, buttery Armenian cake meant to be served as a dessert with tea or coffee.

An yeasted dough, loaded with butter, sugar, yogurt and egg creates a tender, light bread-cake hybrid. The filling, known as "khoriz" in Armenian, is a mixture of chopped walnuts, flour, butter, sugar, and vanilla that's similar to a streusel. The Gata is often dressed up with decorative strips on the dough, or by scoring patterns onto the top before baking.

In Armenia, this round cake with a delicate creamy vanilla taste, is not only popular, but even entered into folk rituals. With Gata, Armenians celebrate weddings and the New Year.

The bride must bring a basket full of Ghata's to the groom's house. And on December 31, the hostess puts a coin before baking into a Gata dough. If a knife touches it when cutting a flat cake, the next year will be unhappy. But if someone gets a piece with a coin, then he will be lucky.

There are many of its regional varieties, and the inhabitants of every corner of Armenia assure that their Gata is the most delicious!

To learn more about Armenia's food & drink, please visit our ARMENIAN CUISINE page