Fluffy and colourful Portokalopita is an old-fashioned Greek cake, made with phyllo pastry, Greek yogurt, and soaked in a delicious orange syrup once baked!
A mouth watering Greek Orange cake (Portokalopita) with the aromas and blends of fresh oranges.
It's easy to make. It's one of THE BEST things to serve with a cup of Greek coffee because of its delicious orange flavour. It's citrus flavour and the syrup make it a truly refreshing sweet treat to end each and every meal!
INGREDIENTS:
for the syrup
700 g granulated sugar
500 g water
orange peel from 1 orange
for the orange pie
450 g phyllo dough sheet
2 oranges
orange zest, of 2 oranges
250 g granulated sugar
250 g vegetable oil
250 g yogurt
1 tsp BP
1 tsp baking soda
2 vanilla pods
4 eggs
INSTRUCTIONS:
Unwrap the phyllo dough from the plastic sleeve; place the sheets on a large surface and leave at room temperature for 20 minutes, in order to dry well. Alternatively, spread a few on a large baking tray and bake at 100C until dry; repeat with the rest
For the syrup, pour into a pot the water, the sugar and the orange peal and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup has thickened. Set aside to cool
At the same time, boil the 2 oranges for 1 hour. Remove and squeeze them well to get all of their juice. blend them and set them aside
For the cake mixture, pour the vegetable oil into a large bowl, add the sugar and the eggs and whisk. Add the yogurt, the orange juice, the blended oranges, the orange zest and the vanilla extract and whisk well, until the ingredients combine and the mixture is smooth
Add the baking powder, and whisk lightly
Crumble the phyllo into small pieces using your hands. Add them gradually into the mixture while whisking so they don’t stick to each other.
Using a cooking brush, oil the bottom and the sides of a baking tray (approx.20x30cm / 8×12 inch) and pour in the mixture.
Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 40-50 minutes until, nicely coloured and cooked through. Check if it is ready, by poking a hole with a knife. If the knife comes out clean, then the cake is ready.
To finish the orange cake, ladle slowly the cold syrup over the hot cake. Allow each ladle of syrup to be absorbed, before ladling again
Allow time for the syrup to be absorbed and put in the refrigerator
TIPS:
1. Let the pie reach room temperature before refrigerating. You can serve it both at room temperature or cool from the fridge.
2. Greek orange cake is ideally served cold, not hot, so that it does not crumble. 3. Enjoy with a big spoonful of ice cream or with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and some ground cinnamon on top.
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