Preheat your oven to 180℃.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, canola oil, vanilla paste, and eggs. Mix until combined.

Now pour in the orange juice, and add the zest as well. Mix.

Roll the filo pastry up and vertically slice into strips, then horizontally slice again. This is to create small pieces, you could also use your hands to rip it up.

Fold the shredded filo pastry into the wet mix. Then add the baking powder too.

Pour the cake batter into a greased or non-stick baking tin. I used a rectangle shaped tin.

Bake for 45 minutes. Use a skewer to poke the cake, if it comes out mostly clean then the portokalopita is ready, if not add cake back into the oven for another 5-8 minutes.

When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and poke lots of holes throughout the cake. Pour the syrup onto the cake, and let sit so the syrup sinks in.

Place the portokalopita in the fridge for an hour or so before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or yoghurt, and enjoy!

While the cake is baking, it is the perfect time to make the syrup. First add the sugar, water and cinnamon to a pot.

Bring a rolling boil, stirring continuously, until sugar has completely dissolved.

Take the syrup off the stove, let sit until cool.