While I was living in Croatia, this was my favourite cake ever. Period. And it is only now that I decided to make it. Perhaps it is a touch of nostalgia for my home country, perhaps coincidence. In any case, we now have a recipe for a really traditional and beloved cake.
I am not sure about the history of this cake, but I am guessing it is a long one. Hats off to the genius who combined the four layers of awesomeness: poppy, cheese, walnuts, and apple. The name of the cake is derived from the name of a Croatian region, Međimurje, in the far north of the country1. However, I know that it is called Prekmurska gibanica in Slovenia, and I am fairly sure that both Austria and Hungary have their own names for this cake.
I will be curious to see if my colleagues at work share the enthusiasm for this cake, as I have quite a lot of it: I made the cake in the largest pan I have, this one from Ikea.
I found the recipe at one of the canonical Croatian community food portals, Coolinarika. I modified it slightly, and I am including my modifications below.
I must admit, I had a bit of a shock moment when I first tried this gibanica, just after it was made. The flavour was simply not what I remember. When I told my sister about this, she said I should leave it over night, so that the flavours come together. I thought “yeah, right,” but I still followed the advice. What a difference a night makes! So this is a tip for you, dear reader: good things are worth the wait.
Međimurska gibanica
Ingredients
- 20 sheets of filo, covered with a damp cloth when not being used
- 300 g butter, melted, for coating the filo sheets
the 1st filling: poppy
- 200 g ground poppy seeds
- 50 g sugar
- 200 ml milk, just off the boil
- raisins, about two large handfulls
THE 2nd filling: cheese
- 700 g cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- 100 g sugar
THE 3rd filling: walnuts
- 200 g ground walnuts
- 50 g sugar
The 4th filling: apples
700 g grated apple
50 g sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Equipment
A large pan coated in baking parchment; I used one with dimensions 40 x 32 x 6.5 cm because the size fits the shape of my filo sheets perfectly.
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190˚C.
- For the first filling, pour the boiling milk on the mixture of ground poppy seeds and sugar.
- For the second filling, mix all the ingredients together.
- For the third filling, mix all the ingredients together.
- For the fourth filling… Guess what: mix all the ingredients together.
- To assemble the gibanica, take your lined pan and start layering: place one filo sheet and brush it with butter. Continue with three more sheets of filo, so that you get four layers of filo, each brushed with butter. Spread the first filling, the poppy mixture. Distribute the raisins evenly.
- Continue with four more layers of filo, and then spread the second filling, the cheese mixture, on top.
- Next, four more layers of filo brushed with butter, and then the third filling, the walnut mixture.
- Finally, four more layers of filo brushed with butter, and then the fourth filling, the apple mixture.
- Finally, finish with the last four filo sheets, all of them brushed with butter.
- Put the pan in the preheated oven and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes, until the top layer is golden brown.