PORTOKALOPITA

I can hardly believe that I’m about to release my sixth novel. As many of you know, in each of my books I slip a few recipes in between some of the chapters. Each one correlates to the storyline or characters in some way. Doing this also serves to help the reader better understand foods they might not be familiar with. 

Many of these recipes were handed down to me by my mother, grandmother, or close family friends. Others, like for example, the chick pea spread, were created by me.

Portokalopita is a refreshing orange pie or cake, depending on the baking pan used. The texture is a little different because crumbled phyllo is mixed into the batter instead of flour.

Love is Worth Fighting for: Book 3 in The Meraki Series releases on June 24^th. Preorder is available now. https://amzn.to/3a5vuCw

Ingredients

Syrup

1 cup orange juice

1 cup water

1 ½ cup sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

Orange rind strand

For the cake

½ pound phyllo dough

4 eggs

½ cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

7 ½ ounces yogurt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Zest from 2 oranges

Instructions

Preheat oven at 250 F 

Spread the phyllo dough out in a pan and heat in the oven for about 15 – 20 minutes until phyllo is crunchy. Remove from the oven and crush the phyllo with your fingers, breaking it into little pieces. Set aside.

Prepare the syrup while the phyllo is in the oven.

Mix the orange juice, water, sugar, orange rind, and cinnamon sticks in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Prepare the cake batter – Add the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla to a large bowl. Beat until frothy.

In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt and baking powder. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes before adding the yogurt to the egg mixture, slowly folding it in.

Add the orange zest and the crumbled phyllo, mixing gently.

Increase the oven temperature to 350 F.

Grease a 9 X 13-inch baking pan. Pour the cake mixture into the pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drizzle the cooled syrup over the cake one ladle at a time.

Let the cake sit for a few hours to absorb the syrup.

Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. It can be eaten warm or cold.

Cut into squares and garnish with an orange rind or thin orange slices.