Stonska torta: Dubrovnik's famous pasta cake

Have your pasta cake and eat it too with Croatia's ultimate carb-loading dessert.

A slice of Croatian Stonska Torta (Ston cake). Source: Belinda Luksic

Croatians love to carb-load, but the twin towns of Ston and Mali Ston take the cake. 

We made the trip from Split in February, taking the coastal road north to the Peljesac Peninsula, a narrow isthmus near Dubrovnik that is wine country. 

Getting there once meant nipping into Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the new Peljesac Bridge, which opened last August ahead of Croatia joining the EU, has made the drive fast, cheap and direct.  

I was here for oysters, but what met us was a stonking-big fortification, running up and over the hill like a giant thorny reptile. 

The Walls of Ston. Rivalled only by the Great Wall of China, and built to protect the "white gold" salt pans that gave the town its wealth.

Those salt pans are Europe's oldest, formed from sun, sand and sea and harvested in the same way for more than 4,000 years.

Croatians love to carb-load, but the twin towns of Ston and Mali Ston take the cake.

The pristine waters of Mali Ston Bay also make for shucking good oysters, a nuanced merroir fed by both fresh and saltwater. It has earned the region an EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and those oysters a Grand Prix. Reason enough for a seasoned oleophile like me to make the three-hour road trip. But in Mali Ston, I found another worthy dish. 

Stonska torta (Ston cake to you and me) is as old as the Walls of Ston and just as impressive, presumably concocted when sweet pasta wrapped in pastry was the height of secret weaponry. This might explain its presence at weddings, hiding in plain sight in case the defensive walls are breached.

Stonska torta has the kind of cachet that few carb-loaded dishes achieve. Source: Belinda Luksic

Built into this lard-hitting shell is a weighty arsenal of nuts, pasta, chocolate, nuts, eggs and butter. Safe to say, marauders never knew what hit them. A single battle cry 'Ston!' and they'd be out cold. 

These days, it makes an appearance at Christmas and Easter, where family disputes are quickly settled with a bosh of cake to the head. I jest, but if you need to arm yourself in Southern Dalmatia, you'll find what you need in cake shops and restaurants from Dubrovnik to Mali Ston.

The ingredients of a Ston cake. Source: Belinda Luksic

Villa Koruna was our port in a storm, a hotel restaurant with salt-washed sea views and freshly shucked oysters, mussels and a gristly bit of mollusc resembling lady parts, with a magic button to open its shell. (Google tells me I found and ate Noah's Ark, what locals call kunjka).

The Stonska torta sat inconspicuously in the dessert cabinet, outshined by the many sugary, layered gateaux and tortes. So peculiar did I find its savoury looks and nutty sweet soul, I set out to make my own. 

Back in Sydney, I whipped up a super short shortcrust pastry with flour, water and oil, and draped it over a springform tin. 

Next came the filling: neat rows of ziti pasta (what Croatians call makaruli, but penne does just as well), a sprinkling of chocolate-nut mix, a slurp of frothy egg and a generous scattering of butter cubes to smoosh it all together.

Layering the pasta of the Ston cake. Source: Belinda Luksic.

Between layers, I tapped the tin, pressing down gently on top to cement all the deconstructed bits, then continued like a brickie until my great wall of makaruli reached the rim of the tin. Once wrapped in pastry, sealed and trimmed, you'll want to limber up to heave it into the oven. The one I made weighed a ton.

Sweet and savoury, dinner and dessert; Stonska torta has the kind of cachet that few carb-loaded dishes achieve. This hefty cake might well be the ultimate late-night feast, one that even gives the midnight kebab run a miss. 

If I needed any proof, the entire thing was polished off in two nights by a friend's teenage son.

 

Love the story? Follow the author here: Instagram @belindaluksic. Photography by Belinda Luksic. Styling by Belinda Luksic. Food preparation by Belinda Luksic.

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Ston cake (Stonska torta)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

Pastry

• 2½ cups plain flour 
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 100 ml water (approx)

Filling

• 500 g ziti or penne pasta 
• 250 g sugar 
• 100 g dark chocolate, grated
• 250 g ground walnuts 
• 150 g ground almonds
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp Slivovica or dark rum
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 g sugar
• 250 g butter, sliced
• Icing sugar for dusting

Method 

1. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, vinegar and oil. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt, then add the egg mixture and stir until combined. Slowly add water 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture comes together. Knead the dough lightly for a few minutes until it is smooth and elastic, then cover and set aside.
2. Cook the pasta in unsalted water until al dente (7-9 minutes). Drain and set aside.
3. Combine sugar, chocolate, walnuts, almond meal and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, lemon zest, Slivovica (or rum), vanilla extract and sugar until frothy.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and dust it with flour.
5. On a clean and dry surface, roll out the pastry to a 35 cm circle. Place gently in the springform pan, letting the excess drape over the sides.
6. To assemble the cake, neatly cover the base with a handful of cooked pasta, sprinkle with two handfuls of nut mixture, then spoon ⅓ cup of the egg mixture over the top and sprinkle with ¼ butter slices broken into smaller pieces. Continue layering to the top, tapping the pan between layers to gently settle the ingredients. 
7. Fold the dough over the top of the cake to make a cover, trimming any excess.
8. Cook in the oven for 45 minutes until golden, then rest in the pan until cool.
9. Invert on a serving plate and dust with icing sugar. Serve with thickened cream and berries.