What would you do if told to take home the very best the island of Rab had to offer, but to fit it all into a bundle no bigger than the palm of a decent-sized man’s hand? Impossible?! Rab is so much more than an island, and the islanders, who like to refer to themselves as Rab’jani, are as unforgettable as the many treasures or their island, or škoj in the local dialect. But if we really had to pick one thing to take home, even to the other side of the world, it would be the Rab Cake. This dessert, a cake in form only, as it was originally round-shaped, but does not have to be anymore, captures the very essence of the island’s heritage, industriousness and all its bountiful gifts of nature.
Times change, but traditions are carefully maintained, especially on Rab, and especially in the story about the Rab Cake. The Rab Cake is so much more than a dessert made of meticulously chosen local ingredients: almonds, aromatic lemons, and tart cherry liqueur, with a touch of the sun. It tells the history of the town and the island, where every stone house remembers dozens of generations.
It all started back in the 12th century, when flour, sugar and spices were not readily available to the islanders. Venetian merchants brought them occasional novelties, but they were few and far between. Pope Alexander III was introduced to the Dalmatian islands during one of the campaigns on Venice. According to historical records, he blessed the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rab in 1177 and was served a dessert prepared by the local nuns – the Rab Cake. The nuns take the credit for saving the original recipe from oblivion.
They wrote down the ingredients, amounts and the preparation process, which takes as many as three days. The recipe was guarded by the Monastery of St. Anthony of Padua and the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. However, the story about the Rab Cake and the recipe still spread across the Mediterranean. The Rab Cake is still eaten in Venice, where people make it at home and serve it, just like on Rab, for the biggest holidays.
This dessert is prepared in two shapes today, as a round bun, or more often, for practical reasons, as a bar. The preparation of the Rab Cake requires effort, commitment and time. As modified as it may be, the recipe is carefully guarded as a treasured heritage: the art of making the delicate batter and its aromatic heart out of almonds, or mendule in the local dialect. The recipe calls for as much as one kilo of shelled almonds. Unlike their grandmothers and great-grandmothers, modern homemakers do not have as much trouble affording almonds as they have finding untreated lemons and oranges, whose peels are a mandatory ingredient of this dessert. And this is what makes the Rab Cake the most original island souvenir, which brings a whiff of tradition to wherever it goes.
