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Portokalopita (Greek orange cake)

• Edd Kimber

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Serves 8 - 10

Easy

Prep: 45 mins

Cook: 1 hr

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A syrup-soaked cake inspired by the sunshine flavours of Crete

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Try Edd's fragrant orange portokalopita, then discover his devil's food cake, lemon and lime tart, brown butter blueberry and oat milk chocolate blondies or black and white tahini cookies.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to spend a bit of time on the beautiful Greek island of Crete. The village we stay in has a brilliant bakery that produces a whole host of filo-based dishes and, while they’re all delicious, they never seem to include my all-time favourite Cretan treat, portokalopita – so I had to learn how to make it myself.

This cake is unique because instead of flour it’s made with dried filo pastry. The resulting cake is surprisingly tender, with an unusually lacy texture. Because the recipe uses dried filo, it’s reasonable to assume it was originally made as a way to use up any left-over pastry that had become too dry to use for other recipes. The origin story, however, suggests it was invented by thrifty cooks who had scraps of left-over pastry after making spanakopita.

This is also a recipe that fits into the siropiasta category of Greek desserts – cakes and pastries soaked in simple syrup to keep them moist. Traditionally the batter is made with oil but I prefer the flavour of butter. But feel free to use an equal quantity of oil should you want a more traditional version.

In this version the usual orange-flavoured syrup is deepened with a fragrant blend of cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf. While the included amount is entirely used up in the cake, you can always make a little extra to drizzle over the fresh oranges slices, if you like.

Fragrant orange portokalopita recipe

Ingredients

Nutrition

• 150g butter

  melted then cooled slightly, plus extra for the tin

• 350g filo pastry

• 3 eggs

• 150g caster sugar

• 2 large oranges

  zested and juiced (you’ll need 125ml), plus extra orange segments to serve

• 175g greek yogurt

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• pinch of fine sea salt

• whipped cream and flaked almonds

  to serve

SPICED SYRUP

• 200g caster sugar

• 2-3 large oranges

  juiced (you’ll need 150ml)

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 5 cardamom pods

• 2 bay leaves

Nutrition: per serving (10)

• kcal414
• fat17g
• saturates10g
• carbs58g
• sugars39g
• fibre1g
• protein7g
• salt1.2g

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Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Lightly butter a 20cm round springform tin and line the base with baking paper. Unroll the filo sheets and, working with one at a time, scrunch up from one of the short sides, creating lots of pleats. Layer the filo across two large baking trays and bake for 15 mins. Carefully turn over each piece of filo and bake for another 15 mins, then set aside to cool. At this point, the pastry should be completely dry and extremely crisp. Carefully break into smaller pieces.

• step 2

  Turn up the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Whisk together the eggs, sugar and orange zest using an electric whisk in the largest bowl you have for 5 mins or until thickened and pale. Add the orange juice, yogurt, bicarb, baking powder, salt and butter, and mix until just evenly combined. Add half the pastry shards and stir until they have rehydrated and shrunk slightly as they absorb some of the moisture. Add the remaining pastry shards and stir until everything is evenly coated.

• step 3

  Scrape into the tin and spread out into an even layer. Bake for 25-30 mins or until the cake springs back to a light touch and the top is golden.

• step 4

  Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. Put the sugar, orange juice, spices and 75ml of water in a pan, and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 mins.

• step 5

  As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over the surface using a cocktail stick, then slowly drizzle over the syrup until all of it has been used up. Leave to cool completely.

• step 6

  Serve the cake in slices with whipped cream and segmented oranges. If you want a little extra texture, sprinkle over some flaked almonds too. It will keep chilled for up to three days.

More Edd Kimber recipes

Authors

Edd KimberBaking columnist

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