Place the oil, the sugar, the cinnamon and the cloves in a bowl and whisk until the sugar partially dissolves. Dissolve the baking soda in the juice (over the bowl, because it will foam and pour over the tip of the cup) and add it to the ingredients together with the brandy and the zest. 

Sift the flour with the baking powder and little by little add it to the liquids, while whisking. When the dough starts to get firm, work it softly by hand, not too long, because kneading stiffens and hardens the melomakarona. Add the flour little by little and make sure that the dough is soft, fluffy and oily. Not FIRM! 

Take a piece of dough, form it into a ball, press it in your palms so that you flatten it. Add a little filling and seal it. Press it once more to flatten it. 

Finally, spread the melomakarona out on a baking tray, with the sealed end at the bottom. Poke the top a little using a fork. Bake at 170οC using the fan, in the middle rack and in a thoroughly preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until they are golden brown. Let them cool well and then place them tightly in a large baking tray (like the ones that come with the oven) so that there is no empty space between them. 

Place all the ingredients for the syrup into a pot and from the time it starts boiling, simmer for 6-7 minutes skimming off the foam. Pour hot syrup over the cold melomakarona leaving them for 4-5 minutes then turn them upside down.Then remove them and place them in a platter, sprinkling with finely chopped walnuts.