Name: Portokalopita - Greek Orange Phyllo Cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
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)); 3 cups sugar; 3 star anise; zest from one orange

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.

A plate with three pieces of greek orange phyllo cake utensils over napkin. A pan with cake at the back.

Portokalopita – Greek orange phyllo cake is an effortless traditional Greek dessert you can whip up in a couple of hours without a lot of work.

It has a bread pudding texture and a delicious, fragrant syrup. You will not need any flour; the phyllo sheets do all the work and are very easy to prepare.

It can be served alone or with some vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

Phyllo sheets
Oranges
Yogurt
Vegetable oil
Sugar
Eggs
Baking powder
Vanilla
Star anise

How to make this cake

Make the syrup

Add 3 cups of water, 3 cups of sugar, the zest from one orange and 3 star anise in a sauce pan. Boil for 15 minutes. Leave aside to cool.

Preheat oven at 250 F (120 C).

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.

Phyllo sheets scrunched up in a baking pan.

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.

Ingredients for orange cake in a mixer bowl.

Assemble

Turn up the oven heat at 350 F (180 C).

Brush your baking pan with a little vegetable oil.

A baking pan with crumble phyllo pieces inside.

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).

Poring egg mixture over phyllo pieces in a baking pan.

Pour the filling all over phyllo. Mix well but gently to make sure filling and crumbled phyllo are evenly spread within the pan.

Orange cake ready for the oven to be baked.

Bake for 50 minutes or until it is orange 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.

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 not available, substitute with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of imitation vanilla extract.