Are you craving a delicious dessert that bursts with the vibrant flavors of citrus? Look no further than Portokalopita No. 5, a mouth-watering orange cake soaked in a delectable orange juice-based syrup. This delightful Greek dessert is perfect for the BBQ season and will leave your taste buds craving more. Join me on a culinary journey as we explore the recipe for this tantalizing treat.
As dedicated recipe seekers, we strive to find the best recipes and create scaled-down versions that are easy to make at home. After rigorous testing (five attempts, to be precise), we finally achieved perfection with Portokalopita No. 5. The first two attempts lacked the desired rise due to the wrong choice of filo dough, the third was closer but still missing something, and the fourth had a runny syrup. But fear not, the fifth time was indeed the charm! This version incorporates dried-out filo dough crumbled into tiny filo flakes, giving the cake its unique texture and taste
Let’s dive into the ingredients you’ll need to recreate this citrusy delight:
SYRUP:
• 625g of freshly squeezed oranges (6-7 medium oranges)
• 200ml water
• 1kg sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1oz Metaxa (a Greek brandy)
• Orange peel of two oranges julienned
CAKE:
• 14 sheets/565g of fine filo dough (not the extra fine one)
• 300g sugar
• 250g olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 400g Greek yogurt (2% or higher fat content)
• 6 eggs
• 25g baking powder
• 2 medium oranges (whole)
• Zest of two oranges (use the oranges from the syrup before juicing)
• 1 tbsp vanilla powder or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 8 thin orange slices, cut in half, for decoration
THINGS YOU’LL NEED:
• 13”x10” baking pan
• Stand or hand mixer
• 3 cookie trays
• 1 large sauce pan
• 1 medium sauce pan
• Potato peeler
• Sharp chopping knife
• Citrus zester
• Juicer
• Spoon/whisk
• Immersion blender or food processor
• Extra large mixing bowl
• Silicone/rubber spatula
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring scale
STEPS:
1. In a large saucepan, boil two whole oranges, including skins, and then reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour. Once done, remove the oranges from the water and let them cool. You can use an ice water bath if needed.
2. Peel the rind of two oranges using a potato peeler, careful not to cut too deep into the white part of the orange and julienne (cut into skinny strips).
3. Zest two oranges (for cake mixture) and set aside covered with plastic wrap not to dry out.
4. Juice oranges to get 625ml of freshly squeezed orange juice. You can use store-bought orange juice, but make sure it’s freshly squeezed; this will make all the difference in having that freshly squeezed orange taste. In Toronto, you can find freshly squeezed orange juice at most local grocery stores; and at Café Serano.
5. In a medium-sized saucepan, add sugar, water, freshly squeezed orange juice, julienned orange rind, Metaxa and two cinnamon sticks from the list of ingredients for the syrup. Stir and boil; once boiling, reduce heat to medium/low and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
*Once cooled, using a fine mesh strainer and completely strain the syrup.
6. Take 14 sheets/565g of fine filo dough (not the extra fine one. This gave us the flattest cakes in our test kitchen) and fold in half, then roll until you have a roll of filo dough. Cut 1” sections and then carefully separate them so that there are no clumps of filo ribbons. In Toronto, you can come to the bakery and purchase our in-house filo dough; using this filo dough gave us the best results. We also tried it with the store-bought Krinos baklava filo dough, which worked well.
7. Divide and space out the filo ribbons over three baking trays and let air dry for several hours or dry in the oven at 190° F until completely dry (45-60 min depending on your oven). Whether air drying or oven drying, you’ll need to go in and toss the filo ribbons a few times to ensure they are adequately separated during the drying process so they don’t dry in clumps.
8. When the filo ribbons are completely dry, crush them with your hands until they are tiny little flakes.
9. Take the boiled oranges and slice them into quarters. Remove any seeds and white stems inside and squeeze out all the juice. Discard the liquid so that the only thing left is the skins and pulp. Using an immersion blender/food processor, reduce to a paste and set aside.
10. Prepare eight thin slices of oranges and cut them in half; set aside.
11. Grease a 10”x 13” cake pan. If you don’t have a 10” x 13” cake pan, you can use a 13” x 9” as long as it’s at least 3” deep. Use a metal baking pan; otherwise, your cake won’t bake properly.
12. Using a stand mixer, whip together eggs, sugar and oil for 10 min on medium-high until double in size, pale, light and fluffy this is very important to get a good rise on the cake. You can use a hand mixer, but it will take much longer.
13. Change to a paddle attachment, and on low, stir in the baking powder, yogurt, orange puree, orange zest and vanilla powder/vanilla extract, ensuring each ingredient is incorporated before adding the next. Do not overmix. If you’re using a hand mixer, add each ingredient one by one and beat on low before adding the next.
14. Pour mixture into a larger bowl before adding the filo flakes. You could add the filo flakes into the original mixing bowl if using a hand mixer, but because we used a stand mixer, we wanted enough space to ensure we we’re not getting clumps of filo flakes in our cake mixture.
15. Slowly add the filo flakes in small batches and carefully fold in each batch before adding the next. You want to ensure that the filo flakes are fully coated with the cake mixture and that there are no clumps. Be careful not to stir as this will overmix the cake mixture – j folds only!
16. Pour the batter into the baking pan and smooth out.
17. Decorate the top with orange slices and bake in the oven at 325°F for approx. 55min or until the top of the cake is a nice golden brown and bounces back when you touch it.
18. Once baked, remove from oven, and while hot, use a long-pronged fork or skewer and poke right through to the bottom of the cake several times.
19. Take the cooled orange syrup and pour/spoon it over the hot cake—reserve about ½ cup for serving.
20. Let stand for at least 1 hour before serving.
TIPS
When making this cake, look for medium sized sweet oranges with a thin skin/peel. I tried this recipe with larger thick-skinned oranges, and it was no bueno, I prefer the Costco oranges (not the Cara oranges). Place the cake in the fridge overnight for a lovely cool cake, perfect for serving on a hot day. Reserve some of the syrup and spoon some over each slice when serving. This cake is also impressive with a scoop of vanilla gelato and some of the orange syrup spooned on top. If you love oranges like us, you’ll love this cake!!!
ENJOY!!!
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