Meera Sodha’s recipe for vegan portokalopita, or Greek orange cake | The new vegan

I ate this cake many years ago when I dated a teacher who was passionate about Greek food. I didn’t fall in love with him, but I thoroughly enjoyed the cake. It had about it a taste of home, and of gulab jamun, because of the syrup that soaks deep into the batter. It’s dense, like pudding, but also very bright with the flavour of January oranges. In fact, it tasted of what one might hope for in a beautiful partnership: brightness and a feeling of home. My liaison with this cake outlasted the teacher, and for that I’m not sorry.

Portokalopita (Greek orange cake)

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 45 min
Rest 30 min+
Makes 1 x 20cm cake, to serve 8

For the cake
1 x 270g pack filo pastry
400g vegan yoghurt – I used Oatly’s Oatgurt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp cornflour
3 large oranges, 2 zested and juiced, to get 250ml, the other thinly sliced, to decorate
150g caster sugar
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
Vegan creme fraiche, to serve

For the syrup
125g caster sugar
1 large orange, juiced, to get 125ml

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6, and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin.

Line a baking sheet with reusable baking paper, scrunch up the filo sheets individually into loose balls and put them on the baking sheet. Bake for five minutes, until lightly golden, then remove and put to one side.

In a bowl, mix the yoghurt, baking powder, cornflour, orange zest and caster sugar, then stir in the olive oil and orange juice. Scrunch the baked filo into shards, then whisk into the mix. Pour everything into the prepared cake tin, decorate the top with the sliced orange, then bake for an hour and 15 minutes, until golden.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup. Boil the sugar and orange juice for 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves and you are left with a thin syrup.

Once the cake is cooked, poke holes all over it (keep the cake on the tray, because syrup will leak out) and pour the syrup all over the top. Wait at least 30 minutes, so the syrup soaks in as the cake cools, then unclip and serve with vegan creme fraiche.