Greek portokalopita — the orange cake with thin pastry sheets and syrup

Portokalopita is one of the most beloved desserts of Greek cuisine: a cake of crumbled thin pastry sheets, soaked in a rich cream of orange juice and yoghurt, which after baking is drenched with a cold aromatic syrup. The result is an exceptionally soft and moist dessert, with the fresh taste of orange.

Ingredients

• 1 packet of thin pastry (filo) sheets, about 450 g
• 5 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 200 ml Greek yoghurt
• 180 ml sunflower oil
• 250 ml fresh orange juice
• Grated zest of 2 oranges
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the syrup:

• 400 g sugar
• 400 ml water
• 100 ml orange juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2–3 cloves

Preparation steps

1. Prepare the sheets: crumble the thin pastry sheets by hand into small pieces, spread them on a baking tray and leave them to dry in the air for 1–2 hours (or dry them for 10 minutes in the oven at 100°C). Dry sheets absorb the cream better.
2. Prepare the syrup: put the water, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon and cloves in a saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. Leave it to cool completely — the syrup must be cold when poured over the hot cake.
3. Heat the oven to 170°C and grease a rectangular baking tray (about 35×25 cm) with a little oil.
4. Beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture whitens and becomes fluffy; add the yoghurt, oil, orange juice, grated zest, vanilla and baking powder and mix well.
5. Add the crumbled sheets gradually, mixing gently so that they absorb the whole mixture. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
6. Pour the mixture into the tray and bake for 40–45 minutes, until the surface turns golden.
7. Immediately after taking it out of the oven, spoon the cold syrup over the whole surface of the hot cake. Leave it for at least 2 hours (ideally overnight) to absorb the syrup completely.
8. Cut into square pieces and serve cold, if desired with a little cream or vanilla ice cream.

Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus 2 hours resting). Baking time: 40–45 minutes. Servings: 12.