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.
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.
Nutritional Info – Please remember that the nutritional information provided is only estimated and can vary based on the products used.