500g phyllo pastry

3 sml blood oranges

3 blood oranges (zest)

200g Sugar

4 Eggs

250ml Milk

200ml extra virgin olive oil (neutral is fine)

1 tsp Baking powder 

1 tsp Baking Soda

Syrup:

250ml Water

350gm Sugar
3 blood oranges (juice)

2 cinnamon sticks or 1tbl gr cinnamon

6 whole cloves

3 star anise

Method

Syrup:

Put sugar and water in saucepan and bring to boil. Once boiling, add orange juice (make sure you’ve removed the zest of the blood oranges before juicing, as the zest goes in the cake).

Bring to boil once again. Take off heat and leave to cool in fridge, you want the syrup cold.

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius (Fan forced)

Arrange the phyllo sheets in an accordion style on a baking tray. Squishing together vertically, before putting into oven to dry out for one hour.

Boil whole oranges for 1 hour. Chop boiled orange before blitzing together with sugar, eggs, milk, oil, zest, baking soda & powder

Increase oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Once phyllo is dried, use your hands to break up the sheets and place into a bowl. Add 1/2 the mixture from the blender to half of the phyllo and stir. Add the other half and stir. 

Line a 25cm x 30cm tray with butter and light flour. Add cake ingredients and cook at 160 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Take the cake out, spike it heaps with a skewer and use a ladle to slowly pour cld syrup over the top of the hot cake. Leave to allow cake to absorb syrup and enjoy!