Portokalopita is a traditional Greek orange cake. The concept is similar to that of bread pudding, where you make a custard and bake soaked stale bread. However, you use phyllo dough that you dehydrate in the oven, so no flour is needed.
It also uses the whole orange, so you will boil that orange in some water for about an hour to remove the bitterness. There is fresh orange juice in the syrup, and orange zest in this cake.
Like with all Greek syrupy desserts, make the syrup first. Cold syrup is poured over hot dessert, and you let it all soak in.
I used 1/2 package of phyllo for this 9 inch portokalopita because I used the other half for baklava parcels. You can double the recipe and make a 9×12 pan.
Ingredients:
1 whole orange
Zest of 1 orange
2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup full fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sunflower oil 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
The syrup
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
Juice of 1 orange (the one you zested)
Directions
Take one whole orange and boil it in a pot of water for an hour. This removes bitterness. When done, discard the water and set aside the orange to cool.
While that is simmering, zest the second orange and set aside the zest. For the syrup, you only need the juice of that orange.
Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil, let simmer for a few minutes till the liquid is clear. Set aside.
Meanwhile , crinkle your phyllo in a pan and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes till it’s dry. Take it out & crumble it up.
Now you are ready to begin to assemble your portokalopita.
In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and the orange zest. Mix those two up with a spoon. Massaging the sugar with the zest will release its essential oils and fragrance for the cake. Now beat the eggs with the sugar until they are pale yellow. Add in the olive & sunflower oils, yogurt and milk.
In a food processor, pulverize the boiled orange until smooth. Pour that into the batter.
Now stir in the 1/4 of the crushed phyllo and mix that into the batter. Continue adding the phyllo little by little until it is completely incorporated.
Pour that into a baking pan that you have brushed with a little olive oil.
Optionally, you can choose to decorate the top as I did with a few sliced oranges. I sprinkled a little bit of sugar over them. They will caramelize and become part of the cake. It looks pretty!
Bake at 325 F for an hour, or until golden brown.
When you remove it from the oven, poke some holes with a toothpick and then pour the cooled syrup over the cake. Let it absorb completely while in the dish. There is no need to remove it from the baking pan. Enjoy as is, with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Kali Oreksi!
on xenia street 