Ston Cake (Stonska Torta), a Croatian Macaroni Dessert
Ston cake is a sweet cake made with cooked macaroni and a nut filling, baked in a pastry case. It comes from the small town of Ston on the Pelješac peninsula in southern Croatia, and the Ston tourist board counts it among the hallmarks of the cuisine of Ston and its surroundings.
What Ston cake is
It is pasta in a pastry case. The macaroni is cooked and cooled, then laid in a pastry-lined mould in layers, each covered with a sweet filling of ground nuts. Beaten egg and small pieces of butter go over each one. In the Ston tourist board's version, the cooled cake is turned over as it comes out of the mould, so the bottom ends up on top.
According to the Dubrovnik-Neretva County tourist board, makaruli is the local word for macaroni.
Where it comes from: Ston, Pelješac and Dubrovnik
The Ston tourist board counts the cake among the dishes it calls original to the area and Renaissance in origin, because more information is available about them. In its words, the cake combines ingredients typical of the Italian climate with the cooking of this area.
The cake carries the name of Ston, but it is not made only there. The Dubrovnik-Neretva County tourist board describes the dessert as typical of Pelješac and enjoyed throughout the Dubrovnik-Neretva region. The joint tourism portal of the peninsula lists Ston macaroni among the desserts of the peninsula, alongside hrostule, crocanat and broštulani almonds.
What goes into it
Versions vary, and even the official ones differ from each other. The Ston tourist board makes the filling from grated chocolate, sugar, ground walnuts and almonds, lemon peel, vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Its cooked macaroni is dressed with lemon juice, rum and olive oil, and the pastry is a plain dough of flour, eggs, olive oil and salt.
A multilingual brochure on the Ston tourist board's website gives another version, with hollow pasta and margarine. TESTEAT, an Interreg Italy-Croatia project, adds vinegar and baking powder to the pastry.
When it is made
According to the Ston tourist board, the cake was made for special occasions, especially Easter and Christmas.
The programme of the 2025 Ston Salt Festival featured the cake. On 3 October 2025, Dubrovnik-Neretva County reports, a workshop in the Veliki kaštio fortress in Ston showed visitors how the traditional macaroni cake is made.
Is Ston cake protected?
Stonska torta od makarula is on the list of gastronomic-heritage dishes in Croatia's regulation on the special standard "Hrvatska autohtona kuhinja" (Croatian indigenous cuisine), published in Narodne novine 60/2011. The standard is for restaurants, bars and hotels: it can be granted to a place where at least 70 per cent of the dishes on the menu come from that list. It is a catering standard, not a designation of origin.
Ston cake is not a registered name in eAmbrosia, the EU register of geographical indications. The only registered name linked to Ston there is Malostonska kamenica, the Ston oyster.
Sources for this page include: the Ston tourist board's food page (in Croatian), its English page, Narodne novine 60/2011.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Ston cake?
- A dessert from Ston: cooked macaroni layered with a nut filling and baked in a pastry case.
- What is Ston cake called in Croatian?
- Stonska torta. It is also called Stonski makaruli.
- How is Ston cake made?
- Cooked macaroni and a nut filling go into a pastry-lined mould in layers and are baked. The Ston tourist board describes its version on its website, ston.hr.
- Is Ston cake from Dubrovnik?
- It comes from Ston, in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The county tourist board says it is enjoyed throughout the region.
- When is Ston cake eaten?
- Traditionally on special occasions, especially at Easter and Christmas, according to the Ston tourist board.
Pelješac food in the book
The food chapter of the book covers Ston salt, oysters, octopus, fish, the peka and wine with food.
