Portokalopita, the greek orange cake!

Portokalopita

A fragrant and moist cake made with phyllo, yogurt, and orange syrup, Portokalopita is a unique and delightful dessert. Some story on how I discovered it... 

Years ago, when I have visited the greek island of Leros, a kind lady gave me the recipe of "patsavouropita" - a typical desert of their island. I made it immediately when I have returned home but at some point with time, I've lost the recipe, which I regret. Much later on, a similar cake "portokalopita" became very popular in Greece. Often tourists taste it at the end of a dinner at a restaurant or taverna as a treat and they just love it! 

I profit from this revival to gather various recipes from family, friends and online (thank you all!) and end up with my own. Here's my favorite that thanks to my blog I will keep for the years to come and I will pass it to my children :) Click on Read me more link below for the recipe. 

Love to hear your feedback! (In comments below)

Ingredients

~3 oranges (to end-up with 100ml+140ml=240ml of juice for syrup and dough)

Syrup

400ml water
330g sugar
100ml orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1 cinnamon stick

Dough

450g phyllo dough (Greek fyllo, found in oriental product stores)
4 eggs
160g sugar
1 cup sunflower oil (or melted butter)
300g Greek yogurt
140ml orange juice (freshly squeezed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
A pinch of salt
Orange (or lemon) zest

Procedure (See photos below)

1. Preheat the oven to 95°C (203°F). Cut phyllo into 2cm strips, spread on a tray, and bake for 10 minutes. Flip and bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool.
2. Preheat oven to 175°C (347°F). Butter a 32x22cm baking dish.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar for 4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently.
4. Gradually stir in the phyllo. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden.
5. While the cake bakes, make the syrup: boil water, sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon for 5-7 minutes. Let cool. 
6. Once the cake is done, poke holes in it and slowly pour the cooled syrup over. Let sit for 2-3 hours before refrigerating - if you can resist of course ! Here it is never the case :)

Enjoy!!!! If only I could share here the smell and the taste....