Portokalopita-Orange Phyllo Cake is a decadent syrupy Greek dessert. It is easy to make with simple ingredients like oranges, phyllo sheets, yogurt, and star anise, making it an irresistible treat.
If you love this Portokalopita-Greek Orange Phyllo Cake, you will also love this Pistachio Baklava, Trigona-Almond Phyllo Pastries or Galaktoboureko-Custard Pie!
Why this recipe sings
Ingredients
- Phyllo sheets
- Oranges
- Greek Yogurt
- Vegetable oil
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Baking powder
- Vanilla
- Star anise
How to make orange phyllo cake
Preheat oven to 250°F / 120°C.
- Make the syrup. Add three cups of water, three cups of sugar, the zest from one orange, and three star anise to a saucepan. Boil for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Prepare the phyllo sheets
- Prepare the phyllo sheets. Scrunch up the phyllo sheets one by one and place them on a large pan. Use two pans if you have to. Bake them in the oven for about an hour until they are completely dried out and crunchy. Turn them over halfway to make sure they dry out all over.
Prepare the cake mixture
- Prepare the cake mixture. Using a mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice, and zest from one orange, yogurt, vanilla, and baking powder for about 4-5 minutes.
- Turn up the oven heat at 350°F / 180°C.
- Brush your baking pan with a little vegetable oil.
- Crumble up the dried phyllo sheets until all are broken up. Add them all in your pan (I used a 9 x9 inch bake pan).
- Pour the filling all over phyllo. Mix well but gently to make sure filling and crumbled phyllo are evenly spread within the pan.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until it is golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and immediately pour the syrup all over the cake.
- Let the cake cool completely and soak up the syrup. I usually make this cake the day before I want to serve it. It tastes so much better this way. The extra time allows all the flavors to blend, and the syrup is well absorbed.
- Serve as is or with vanilla ice cream.
Tips
- If you don’t like too much syrup, do the following: After all the syrup is fully absorbed in the cake, cut and place the pieces on a wire rack for a couple of hours. Let the extra syrup drain. Save the extra syrup from the baking pan in a separate container and pour a little on top for serving if you want to.
- You can replace the star anise with a cinnamon stick.
- If vanilla beans or paste are unavailable, substitute with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of imitation vanilla extract.
olive oil guide
Everything You Wanted To Know About Olive Oil
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Portokalopita – Greek Orange Phyllo Cake
Portokalopita – Greek orange phyllo cake is a decadent syrupy Greek dessert. Easy to make with simple ingredients like oranges, phyllo sheets, yogurt and star anise, it is an irresistible treat.
Equipment
- 9 inch square baking pan
- large baking pan
- medium sauce pan
- Mixer (hand mixer or tabletop)
Ingredients
- 1 package phyllo sheets
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup greek yogurt full fat
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 vanilla bean paste
- 2 oranges juiced and zested (zest divided)
For the syrup
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 star anise
- zest from one orange
Instructions
Make the syrup
- Add 3 cups of water, 3 cups of sugar, the zest from one orange and 3 star anise in a medium sauce pan. Boil for 15 minutes. Leave aside to cool.
- Preheat oven at 250 F (120 C).
Prepare the phyllo sheets
- Scrunch up the phylo sheets one by one and place on a large pan. Bake them in the oven for about an hour until they are completely dried out and crunchy. Turn them over halfway to make sure they dry out all over.
Prepare the mixture
- Using a mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and zest from one orange, yogurt, vanilla bean paste and baking powder for about 4-5 minutes.
Assemble
- Turn up the oven heat to 350 F (180 C).
- Brush your baking pan with some vegetable oil
- Crumble up the dried phyllo sheets until all are broken up. Add them all in your pan (I used a 9 x9 inch bake pan).
- Pour the filling all over phyllo. Mix well but gently to make sure filling and crumbled phyllo are evenly spread within the pan
- Bake for 50 minutes until it is a nice orange golden color on top.
- Remove from oven and immediately pour the syrup all over cake. Let it cool completely and the syrup gets fully absorbed.
- Serve as is or with vanilla ice cream. Pour all over some leftover syrup if you like .
Notes
- If you don’t like too much syrup, do the following: After all the syrup is fully absorbed in the cake, cut and place the pieces on a wire rack for a couple of hours. Let the extra syrup drain. Save the extra syrup from the baking pan in a separate container and pour a little on top for serving if you want to.
- You can replace the star anise with a cinnamon stick.
- If vanilla beans or paste are unavailable, substitute with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of imitation vanilla extract.
Nutrition
Calories: 396kcalCarbohydrates: 62gProtein: 4gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 133mgPotassium: 78mgFiber: 1gSugar: 52gVitamin A: 96IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 44mgIron: 1mg
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