GREEK ORANGE CAKE

“An orange on the table, your dress on the rug, and you in my bed, sweet present of the present, cool of night, warmth of my life.” - Jacques Prévert

We had a lovely Spring day today – at least during the middle of the day as it was sandwiched between between a gray drizzly morning and a cool gray afternoon. The temperature went up to about 19˚C and the sun felt quite warm for a while. I went for a walk and enjoyed the sunshine and then back inside… Tonight it’s quite cold and the evening has fallen quite abruptly. Winter is still lingering!

And seeing the last of the Winter oranges are still around, what better way to say goodbye than with a Greek Orange Cake!

Greek Orange Cake
Ingredients
500 g fyllo pastry
4 eggs
1 glassful vegetable oil
250 g Greek style yoghurt
zest of two oranges
1 heaped tsp baking powder
vanillin sugar to taste

For the syrup
3 cupfuls of water
2 cupfuls sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 glassful freshly squeezed orange juice

Method
•    Beat the eggs, oil and vegetable oil in the mixer bowl and add the orange zest, the baking powder and the vanillin sugar.
•    Brush the fyllo pastry leaves well with vegetable oil and lay them down ruched next to each other in a medium-sized baking dish. Reserve a couple of sheets. Cut them transversely and pour on top the mixture that has been prepared in the mixer bowl. Lay on top the pleated oiled reserved pastry sheets and press down gently to ensure they contact the mixture.
•    Bake at 180˚C for 30 minutes.
•    In a saucepan, place the sugar, water and cinnamon stick. Boil for five minutes, stirring all the while. Add the freshly squeezed, strained orange juice and remove from the flame immediately.
•    Pour the syrup over the cake that you have removed from the oven while still hot.
•    Allow to cool and cut into squares to serve.
•    Delicious with a dollop of double cream.