Portokalopita – Greek orange cake with phyllo dough

Actually easy to make and very presentable, this Greek cake can be prepared any month of the year because the main ingredient – oranges – is available all year round in stores.
In addition to oranges, you also need phyllo dough sheets and a few more ingredients and you are on your way to creating the most aromatic and tasty orange cake. Attention: you must use only phyllo dough sheets, not puff pastry or other types of dough that you can buy in stores.

Ingredients: (for 12 servings – I had a 20/30 cm tray)

• 4 large eggs
• 450 g phyllo dough
• 200 ml olive oil
• 200 g sugar
• 300 g yogurt
• 15 g baking powder
• vanilla essence to taste
• orange essence to taste
• orange zest to taste

For the syrup:

• 400 ml fresh orange juice
• 100 g sugar
• a cinnamon stick

For decoration:

• one big orange for decoration

Preparation:

In an oven tray, fold the phyllo dough sheets, as shown in the picture, one by one, and then put the tray in the preheated oven at 160 degrees for ~25-30 minutes or until slightly brown. Remove them when they are ready, let them cool for 5 minutes and then crush them with your hands into small pieces. Leave aside.

In a bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar on high speed for ~7-10 minutes or until the sugar is melted and the consistency is like meringue. Then add the oil, the essences, orange zest, baking powder and yoghurt and mix for ~5 more minutes on high speed.

After all the ingredients are well mixed together, gradually add the crushed phyllo dough pieces to the mix and incorporate everything until you finish the phyllo dough.

Turn on the oven and let it heat to 180 degrees Celsius. Transfer the mixture to the pan, level everything with a spatula and add fresh orange slices on top.

Place the tray in the oven for ~45-50 minutes.

In a pot, put the syrup ingredients and boil them for about 10 minutes over low heat. Turn off the heat and let it cool down with the cinnamon stick in it until the cake is baked.

Remove the cake from the oven when it is ready. Remove the cinnamon stick from the syrup. Using a ladle, spread the syrup evenly over the surface of the cake.

Sometimes, you will have to wait for the syrup to absorb, it helps if you move the edges of the cake away from the pan from time to time with a knife or spatula.

After you’ve finished pouring the syrup, refrigerate for a few hours. When it’s completely cooled, it’s ready to serve.

If you try the recipe, let me know how you liked it! 😊

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