On my recent trip to Croatia, I went to Mali Ston, a tiny little village at the end of the isthmus that connects the Pelječac Peninsula with the mainland of the Dalmatian coast. My good friend Amy told me I must go there because "it's an oyster town!" and these were some of the best she'd ever had, so of course I went straight for Mali Ston.
She was right; it was oyster central. Oysters have been farmed here since Roman times. You can smell the salty oyster beds exhaling as you walk along the ancient Roman walls. I'll tell you about those farms and all the different ways I ate these little sea jewels soon, but today I want to tell you about a cake I encountered in a harbor-side restaurant.
I first caught sight of it on a pamphlet for the restaurant stashed in the bathroom and it made me giggle. It's not exactly the most beautiful pastry in the world, but I was intrigued. I brought the pamphlet back to the table and pointed saying "I have to try this!" and after slurping up three platters of oysters, I ordered a Stonska Torta for dessert.
It's sort of an upside down kugel pie, made in a cake pan. The fun thing that happens is when you slice it, you expose lots of layers of pasta tubes. (My five-year-old daughter affectionately refers to it as "the brain cake thing.")
I spoke with Lada Radin of Taste of Croatia, an English-language website about Croatian gastronomy. She told me that historically, like many cakes, Stonska Torta was reserved for special festivities like Christmas, Easter, and weddings, as otherwise cakes were considered a luxury. Centuries ago when this cake was born, they used pasta for the filling to economize on ingredients.
When I got home I worked through the recipe several ways, adapting a few recipes I found in Croatia; once with chocolate shaved into the filling, and once with a butter-based crust. In the end I decided to stick with the vernacular olive oil crust, and keep the filling to the citrus and almond notes. But if you like chocolate, try an ounce or two shredded into the almond meal mix.
Oddly, and I can't explain this, the crust that I settled on with olive oil tasted faintly of the sea. I think that was my sensory brain in overdrive, remembering that lunch with the floral, briny scent of the oyster beds wafting over the patio.

Stonska Torta
Makes one 8-inch cakeFor the dough:
3 cups (12 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1-3 tablespoons water
For the filling:
1/2 pound dried penne or ziti pasta
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (4 1/2 ounces) almond meal
1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 large eggs
Zest of half lemon
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
For the garnish:
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack on the center rung.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour and salt. In a small bowl whisk the eggs, olive oil and vinegar. Slowly add the olive oil mixture to the flour, stirring gently with a spoon. Do not over-work the mixture. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture loosely comes together. Let it rest covered with a slightly damp kitchen towel.
Cook the pasta in boiling unsalted water as instructed on package for al dente.
Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, almond meal, bread crumbs, and cinnamon. In another small bowl, beat the eggs slightly with the lemon zest and almond extract.
Rub an 8-inch springform cake pan with olive oil and dust with a spoonful of flour.
Roll out dough to 14-inch circle and nestle it into the pan, letting the extra dough drape over the sides of the pan.
Spread a handful of well-drained cooked pasta across the bottom. Sprinkle with two large handfuls of the almond meal mixture. Pour 1/2 cup of the egg mixture over the top and sprinkle with 1/3 of the butter pieces. Repeat for all layers to the top or until the ingredients are used up. After each addition, tap the pan down gently to settle all the layers. Trim the excess dough from the sides of the pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until crust is slightly brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Remove the sides of the pan then invert the cake onto a serving platter and take off the metal bottom.
Garnish with confectioners' sugar, preferably tapped onto the cake through a fine mesh sieve or tea strainer.

Related: Product Review: Dalmatia Fig Spread
(Images: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan)
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Comments (24)
Not like my mothers' noodle pudding... but worth a try. Anything pasta & I am there.
Since you will be inverting the cake, I don't see the need for a springform pan. Can a regular 8" cake pan be used instead, if the sides and bottom are oiled and coated in flour?
This looks so interesting! If I made it, it would probably *be* dinner.
beautiful and strange! related to kugel in a way . . . i'm definitely going to try this!
@IRINA IS DINNER
The cake is deep - so if you have a cake pan that is at least 2" deep then yes. But most cake pans are shorter.
suggestions on creating the dough for a gluten-free household? I can adjust the filling, but I would prefer not to loose the texture of the dough, if possible. many thanks for ideas!!
What is almond meal? If i were guessing i would think finely ground almonds, BUT, if it were that one would assume that you would have phrased it in that manner. Thank you in advance for your reply.
Fal, almond meal is exactly what you described, finely ground almonds. If you went to the grocery store looking for almond meal, you would find a bag labeled almond meal. Usually in the baking section.
Kimro, I would substitute 12 oz. (or 420g) of an AP gluten-free flour mix (you can use Bob's Red Mill for an easy sub, or, if you make your own combination, a mix of 40% higher protein GF flours and 60% starchy GF flours). You have to do it by weight, not by cups since GF flours vary dramatically in weight from regular wheat flour and from each other. I'd have to play with it myself but you may want to throw in 1-2 tsp xanthan gum in there too, if you can tolerate it. Sounds yummy, may have to try it myself (or get lazy and just make the filling and bake it off)!
WHOA!! I went to Croatia last month on my honeymoon AND we went to Mali Ston for a few days. We are missing the food like crazy and will definitely try this recipe! More Croatian recipes please!
I thought it was a Timpana, a Maltese savoury dish, which is also done with dried penne or ziti, but with minced beef, tomatoe sauce etc....
MichelleZ: thank you for your suggestions on substituing GF flours; especially like the comment about weighing the flours (hadn't thought of that for GF flours, but can see the wisdom!). Will experiment soon. Thanks again!!
Not to be a booger, but that thing looks exactly like my mother's "spaghetti pie" - doesn't bring up fond memories!
...it probably tastes great, though :)
I immediately thought this looked like a kugel pie before I even read the description. I'm intrigued.
This looks weird and amazing.
And that bottom photograph is possibly the best food photo I've seen on The Kitchn!
Yuch! I like a sweet dessert. I would definately not try that pie.
It looks tasty. And weird. And tasty.
I really want it.
Wow. I'm from Croatia, and Mrs. Radin was my assistant professor at the uni two years ago.
I've never tried the cake unfortunately, I wonder how pasta fits in into all of that.
Can't wrap my head around "cake" and "pasta" in the same food concoction....pasta deserves sauce, cake deserves fat sugary goodness. My friend did a semester abroad in Croatia, I'll have to ask if he saw it or tried it!!
Don't worry, @Kpies, there is plenty of sugar and fat in this cake!
I'd like to try this. Pasta is nothing more than flour, water, salt and maybe egg so it could easily be sweet or savory. Something different. :)
Hahaha... Your recipe made reddit r/italy
http://www.reddit.com/r/italy/comments/wv2kd/vade_retro/
Yes, it's fun to behold. But does it taste good?
It is really very tasty! Why calI it "strange" and "weird"? Bread-pudding is also "weird," but often delicious, depending on the ingredients. I like it with more cinnamon. This torta is not only from Ston Mali, but is made all around Dubrovnik. They call it there "Torta od Makarula" (in Italian: la torta di maccheroni/pasta). Yes, the oysters are divine! Incidentally, I was conceived there, in the summer of 1946. THOSE oysters do miracles... :-)
Well, just got around to making this today.
It came out... alright. My parents didn't enjoy it so much. (My dad claims to have eaten a bite... but I'm not sure. My mom ate most of it, but left a few noodles and crust)
It's not overly sweet and you can definitely taste the almond. The crust doesn't do anything for me though.