If you’re looking for a delicious, super easy and extremely aromatic Greek dessert, look no further than portokalopita, also known as Greek orange phyllo cake. This portokalopita recipe is bonkers good!
There is a thing about Greek summer that one cannot easily describe, especially if they haven’t experienced it themselves. It’s much more than a stop from the daily routine, while it certainly entails so much more than laying on some Greek island sandy beach from dusk till dawn. A great deal is about food (you knew I was going to say that, right?!)
I guess I let myself get too excited with homespun cooking, delicious Greek mama food, feasts with family, fishing with friends and eating all these glorious meals; as a result, this blog post probably lost its way. Nevertheless, now that summer vacation is over, I had this idea of sharing one of my absolutely favorite Greek desserts. Portokalopita!
Portokalopita is a Greek orange phyllo cake and mega hit during the summer when you serve it with a scoop of ice cream. It’s crispy, syrupy, orange-y, and finger-licking good. Consequently, this portokalopita recipe has density you can’t beat. Deep-golden crust on top, custardy, with a thick texture this sweet citrusy concoction is bonkers good. Seriously, guys, you need to try this asap. I’ve also made a video about my portokalopita recipe. It’s currently in Greek but I’m working on subtitles right now. Check it out below!
Last but not least, let me thank the lovely folks at Pappas Post for sharing this recipe the previous days. Greg, you are the best!
Greek Portokalopita (Syrupy Orange Cake)
Ingredients
- 500 g. 16 oz phyllo sheets
- 4 big eggs preferably organic
- 200 g./ 1 cup sugar
- 2 oranges zest
- 300 g. / 1 ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 200 ml / 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sunflower oil
For the syrup:
- 200 g. 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cup lukewarm water
- 2 oranges juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180oC / gas 4 / 350oF.
- Remove the phyllo sheets from package and shred into ½ inch pieces, using a knife or your hands.
- Grease a round baking dish or cake tin with sunflower oil.
- Combine the eggs with the sugar in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until pale and frothy. Add the orange zest, Greek yogurt, vanilla extract and baking powder. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Slowly add the sunflower oil and beat again. Stir in the phyllo sheets gradually whisking each time with a spatula, until fully incorporated.
- Pour mixture into prepared dish and bake for 50 – 55 minutes.
- In a saucepan, bring sugar, water, orange juice and cinnamon stick to a boil over medium heat, for 2 minutes; remove from heat. Pour the hot syrup over the cold portokalopita or vice versa. Set aside for 1 hour until the syrup has soaked in. Slice and serve.
What do you think about my portokalopita recipe? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Thank you for your recipes !! What size tin for the Portokalopita ?
Hello Maria! I used a 10 x 2.5 inch (25 x 6 cm) baking dish. You could use a round or rectangular one. Happy baking!
How much is in ml 1 1/2 cup of water for the syrup?
What size for round tin? thank you!
Hi Valentina, it’s approximately 354 ml water. For this recipe, I would go with a 32 cm / 13 in round pan.
How does the phyllo work in this batter does it crunch up or melt in ?? Interesting
It depends on how you add it to the batter. If you dry out the phyllo sheets, the portokalopita will be a bit more crunchy. I use them as they are for the sake of saving time, and the result is a rich, moist and dense portokalopita. It’s really up to your personal taste how to use the phyllo!
We bought a slice of portokalopita in a greek shop ln the way back from school a while back (we live in Paris) and my husband and kids LOVED it. It looked very intimidating to bake, until I stumbled across your blog and decided to give it a try. Turned out easy, delicious and exactly as they remembered it! A total hit.
To answer one of the comments, I did cut back on suger (2/3 cups instead of 1 for the dough, but kept 1 for the syrup as it wouldn’t have the right consistency. It was perfect.
Thanks a lot !
Looking forward to making this will post comment
Looking forward to it!
Thank you for sharing your recipe it is amazing!
Can I make this cake with less sugar?
Hi Melina. I’ve been making this portokalopita for ages and I haven’t tried cutting down on any of the ingredients. However, I recently read a piece on reducing sugar in baking and it basically suggested cutting down about 10%-30% in recipes that do not require sugar for chemical reasons. It seems that you could decrease the quantity, but I’m not sure about the taste or actual baking success. Maybe you could try it and let us know how it went!
Hello,
This is one of my favorite recipes and I am auditioning recipes to arrive at The Perfect One. Do you use the “regular” thin phyllo or the thicker “country” sheets?
Thank you, Karen
Hi Karen. I’d go with regular phyllo sheets. I’m not sure about the final result with thicker phyllo, but you could try it and let us know how it turned out!
Hi I made the portokalopita and it was delicious, just if not better than the one I had this year from a bakery in Crete. 10/10 easy to make, easy to follow. Made it for a friend’s birthday who we went to Crete with and he was very impressed as we all were. Thank you for sharing, a family favourite from now on.
Janet thank you so much for your kind words. This portokalopita recipe is my favourite because it is very easy to make and absolutely delicious for the whole family! Stay tuned as more recipes are coming up soon.
Can you use cornoil instead of sunflower oil
Yes, it’s highly recommended.
Made this yesterday using 0% fat Greek yogurt and it turned out great! Thank you!
Thanks for the tip, much appreciated!
Would it be possible to bake the cake and freeze, without the syrup? I would like to later thaw the cake and add the hot syrup. Any thoughts?
Is it possible to freeze this cake?
Can this cake be made ahead and frozen?
is it possible to freeze this cake?
1 1/2 cups of water seems too little for a syrup supposed to soak the baked cake…!?
Hi! So I made it yesterday the flavor was great but it came out very dense
, do you have any idea what went wrong? How can I recreate the airy texture I’ve tasted in Greece? Maybe drying the Philo?
hi Dana, this is is a great idea. I also dry the phyllo sometimes when I feel like it!
Hi can anyone help, I buy orange cake in Cyprus but what I get definitely has walnuts through it. Is this the same recipe or just with walnuts through?!
Sounds like Karithopita- Greek walnut cake. When I first tried Portokalopita in Athens at a bakery, there definitely isn’t walnuts. All my Greek relatives only know this recipe. Karithopita is delicious too but usually has a lemon syrup.
cât suc de portocale??
My package of phyllo is two individual packets totaling 16 oz. which the recipe calls for, but in the video it looks like you only use one. I am awaiting the outcome now.
Hi Marsha! How did it go? Portokalopita is my favorite dessert.
Can I make this in advance? For example.. the night before I am entertaining (for lunch the next day).. and would I store in the fridge or room temp?
Sure thing! Store it in the fridge for 3-4 days and you’re all set!
Hi there! The only phyllo I could find was in the frozen section, do I let it defrost before use or change anything? Thanks!
Made this cake today, beautiful just a little too sweet for me, do I reduce the amount of sugar in cake mix or syrup? Also what size cake tin do you recommend?
Thank you!
How long does it keep?
absolutely loved the video demonstration and I am looking forward to baking one this weekend.
Hello
Is there a reason butter is not used?
I’d like to make this with butter nut I’m not sure how this might affect the final result
Thanks!
Mario
Hi Tasso, I am in the states, can I use regular sugar or it has to be caster? Also do you recommend sunflower over corn oil? And the best portokalopita I had was in Santorini. Do you think it’s better to let the phyllo dry? For the best taste? Thanks so much in advance
wow
I’m planning to make this recipe this weekend for my sister but I’ve read some variations that say you should add ‘cooled’ syrup to a warm cake, not hot syrup. Does it make much difference?
And does it improve by leaving it for a day before eating it? (assuming you have the willpower to leave it that long)
I love Portokalopita! The juice I poured on afterwards seemed an awful lot though … did you mean one and a half cups of water or 1 x half cup of water?
This is such a great easy recipe. I halved the quantities and put into muffin tins rather than a cake and worked out great, will definitely make again.
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Made this today, but think I should of taken it out if oven 10 mins earlier, as it was slightly over done.
Hi. Do you think I could double this recipe? And so what size baking dish or round dish?
Good Morning
I’m not sure about the oil
I cup is 250 ml (in US) the recipe says 1 cup + 2 TB which is about 280 ml
Is your cup size different?
Please clarify
Can’t wait to make this!
Maria