Stonska Torta

Stonska torta is a cake from Ston, Croatia, that uses pasta as its filling. Tubular pasta, almonds and walnuts are layered inside a shell of thin pastry and baked. The shapes of the pasta visible in a cut slice make this local celebration cake memorable.

Layering Pasta and Nuts

In one example of the Ston method, the pasta is boiled and cooled, and ground almonds and walnuts, sugar, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, coffee and other ingredients are prepared. Thinly rolled pastry is laid in a tin, the pasta and the nut mixture are layered alternately, and beaten egg is poured over. The filling is wrapped in the pastry and baked, and the cake is turned out of the tin to finish.

The pasta absorbs the sweet flavors while keeping its shape, and the nuts add bite and a toasty aroma. Because the egg binds the filling, the cake holds together well enough to be cut into slices. Even recipes with the same name vary in their ingredients, and some cooks change the nuts or the flavorings. What makes this cake intriguing is that it treats pasta as a sweet filling.

In another method, boiled macaroni is layered with chopped chocolate, sugar, almonds and walnuts, and butter and eggs are added. The outer pastry that holds the filling is made by combining flour, eggs and olive oil. The versions using coffee and those using chocolate are each one cook’s example.

Baked for the Town’s Festivals

Ston is a town in southern Croatia at the entrance to the Pelješac peninsula. In this town, known for its salt pans and town walls, the cake has been handed down for family celebrations. It is also prepared for Easter, Christmas and Carnival, and is sometimes baked the day before so that the flavors can meld.

Elena Vlahušić, a cook from Ston, says that families make this cake at home for the town’s feast of St. Liberan. Each household keeps baking it, based on the methods they learned from their mothers and grandmothers.

Glossary