Croatian recipes: Rab cake

by croatiaweek
May 12, 2022
in Food & Wine

Rapska torta, or Rab cake (Photo: Rab TZ)

A lot of Croatian towns, villages, and islands have their ‘own’ cake and the island of Rab is one of them.

Rapska torta, or Rab cake, is a must try if you visit the island. Its main ingredients are almonds and Maraschino liqueur and it is traditionally baked in the shape of a spiral.

According to legend, this cake was first served in 1177 to Pope Alexander III when he consecrated the Assumption Cathedral in Rab.

Ingredients

Dough
Flour – 500 g
Butter – 50 g
Sugar – 2 tablespoons
Maraschino liqueur – 1/2 tablespoon
Eggs – 2
Water – 2 tablespoons
Salt – pinch

Filling
Almonds – 1 kg
Sugar – 900 g
Maraschino liqueur – 6 tablespoons
Eggs – 6
Orange zest – 1 1/2 oranges
Lemon zest – 1 lemon

Icing sugar

Rab cake being prepared (Photo credit: Rab TZ)

Instructions

1. Blanch the almonds – remove skin and ground them.

2. To make the dough knead together flour, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, water and Maraschino until it is firm. Place the dough in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.

3. Now for the filing. In a bowl place the ground almonds and add sugar, orange and lemon zest, eggs and maraschino and mix well.

(Photo: Rab TZ)

4. Roll out the pastry very thin and cut into spiral shape using a pastry-cutter wheel and place on baking paper on an oven tray.

5 Add the filing on top and put on a couple of almonds that have not been ground in the centre.

6. Use the strips of dough which had been cut to make the spiral shape and use them around the sides of the spiral – wrinkle them to create the distinct shape of the Rab cake.