Ingredients
375g Antoniou Fillo Pastry
1 tablespoon plain flour
½ cup olive oil (or vegetable or seed oil)
1 cup (250g) Greek yoghurt
4 eggs
Juice of 1 orange (approx. 80-100ml)
Zest of 2 oranges
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
½ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
For the syrup
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Juice of 2 oranges (approx. 160-200ml)
1 cinnamon stick
To serve
Ice cream
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, fan forced. Grease a 30 by 20cm baking dish with oil and dust with a coating of plain flour.
To make the Portokalopita
Scrunch your Fillo Pastry sheets and transfer them to a large tray. Bake them for approximately 10 minutes, flip them over and bake them for a further 10 minutes. The time it takles to dry the pastry out will vary between pastry batches. You are looking for a slight change in colour, but more importantly a change in the way the pastry feels. You want it to feel dry and crispy without being too golden in colour.
Once the pastry has cooled, crush the pastry into smaller pieces using your hands. Set aside.
Place the oil, yoghurt, eggs, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, sugar, baking powder and bicarb of soda into a large bowl and mix until all the ingredients are well combined. Add the crushed Fillo Pastry and fold it in gently.
Change the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius, with no fan. Transfer the mixture to your baking dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and the top of the cake is slightly golden in colour.
To make the syrup
While the cake is baking, prepare you syrup. Place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir to combine. Place over a medium heat and allow to gently simmer for 20 minutes.
Allow the cake to sit for 5 minutes, then pour the syrup over the cake. Keep 1 cup of syrup aside to serve with the cake when serving. Allow to sit for an hour so that the syrup seeps into the cake.
Learn how to make Portokalopita - Greek Orange Pie