Blurb: My maternal family is Greek. I wanted to make this dessert because it generally seems most people only think of baklava when they think of Greek desserts. Portokalopita is a bit of a departure from the usual, but it is a delightful baked good that should be equally celebrated. ES

Ingredients: (amounts included in instructions)

  • Water
  • Sugar
  • Orange juice
  • Orange zest
  • Orange blossom water
  • Cinnamon
  • Phyllo sheets
  • Eggs
  • Plain Greek yogurt
  • Vanilla extract
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Vegetable oil

Instructions: The two most important steps for this recipe are to (a) dry out the phyllo dough, and (b) make the syrup. These two steps take a little while to accomplish and can be a bit messy, so I like to get this out of the way before I make the cake.

Drying out the phyllo: This is critical if you’re using fresh OR frozen phyllo. If using frozen, be sure to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.

  1. There are many ways to dry phyllo, but it’s easiest to just use an oven.
  2. Set the oven to a low temp—190° to 200°–and set the racks in the middle and bottom sections of the oven.
  3. Separate each piece of the phyllo and scrunch them up with your hands, not too tight and not too loose.
  4. Place them side-by-side along 2-3 large baking sheets, and don’t overcrowd the sheets.
  5. Place the baking sheets on the top and bottom racks and cook for about 10 minutes.
  6. Switch the position of the baking sheets and bake again for another 8-10 minutes.
  7. Check to see if they feel dry and easy to tear apart. They’ll feel kind of hard, especially compared to how they felt when you were scrunching them.
  8. Once dry, you might want a pretty big bowl before you start tearing it apart, as it will make a mess and will make more tiny pieces of phyllo than you expect.

Syrup:

  1. In a small to medium pot, combine 1 ½ cups water, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1/3 cup orange juice, 1 cinnamon stick, and either ¼ teaspoon orange blossom water or ¼ teaspoon orange flavored extract.
  2. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes.
  3. Let it cool completely.

Making the cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. You’re going to want a pretty large bowl to mix all of this in since, again, the amount of phyllo makes this seem like a larger challenge.
  2. Mix 4 eggs and ¾ cups sugar with a stand mixer or hand mixer until it is well mixed and paler in color.
  3. Then, add the zest from two full oranges, 1 cup of plain, Greek yogurt (you can use no fat to full fat), 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
  4. Mix until it’s just combined.
  5. Add 1 cup vegetable oil and ½ cup orange juice. Again, mix until well combined.
  6. Next, start SLOWLY adding your phyllo pieces and use a spatula to fold it into the batter. If you add too much at once, you may not get an even distribution of phyllo throughout the batter.
  7. Once fully incorporated, pour everything into a 9 x 13 baking pan, sufficiently greased with olive oil.
  8. Bake on the center rack for 50 minutes and check for doneness. It should be a nice golden color and not leave too much residue on a toothpick.
  9. If it’s still not done, put it back in for up to 10 more minutes.

Finishing the cake:

  1. Remove the cake and pierce it with something in multiple places. (I used a small straw and did 3 rows of 5 holes.)
  2. Pour the prepared syrup over the hot cake ½ cup to 1 cup at a time, letting the syrup soak into the holes you’ve made. Don’t rush this process, since you don’t want the liquid to just collect on top of the cake and not soak through.
  3. It’ll take a bit, but you want this cake to fully cool before you cut into it. This gives it extra time let the syrup reach every available crevice of the cake.
  4. Serve with coffee, ice cream, whipped cream, more Greek yogurt, or an orange tea.
  5. Fun fact: If you’re not a fan of orange but prefer something like lemon, it’s a straight 1:1 swap from orange to lemon for the juice and zest.