Prekmurje gibanica, eight layers of filling

Origins

According to Taste Slovenia, gibanica reached Prekmurje with seasonal labourers who went to work in Slavonia and Vojvodina, and became the region’s festive cake. It’s an EU traditional speciality guaranteed, like potica, Idrija žlikrofi and Bela krajina flatbread, which means it’s made to a fixed traditional recipe. The country’s other great festive bake is in potica.

Eight layers, how it’s built

The recipe published by the Tourist Board starts with a layer of light dough and, on top, a sheet of filo spread with half the poppy seed filling. Over that goes the fat topping, which can be margarine, butter, lard or oil, and the cream-and-egg topping. Then comes another filo sheet with the curd cheese, another with the walnuts and another with the apple, always soaked with both toppings. The whole sequence is then repeated in the same order, to make eight layers of filling, followed by an eighth filo sheet, more topping and a ninth sheet on top. It bakes for an hour at 180 °C. Each baked portion must be 5 to 7 cm high and weigh no more than 250 g.

The fillings

Each filling is little more than its main ingredient and sugar. The poppy seed is ground with icing sugar and vanilla, the full-fat curd cheese is mixed with sugar, vanilla, eggs and a pinch of salt, the walnuts are ground with sugar and vanilla, and the apple, a sour variety, gets salt, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. The magic is in the stacking.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Murska Sobota before prices climb.

Where to try Prekmurje gibanica

In Prekmurje you’ll find it at inns and bakeries. The Tourist Board recommends the House of Gibanica in Turnišče, which explains Prekmurje and Prlekija gibanica made with home-milled flour, poppy seed, walnuts, curd cheese and meadow apples, and jokes that you’ll always want another pajs or griz, the local words for a bite. The region is covered in Pomurje.

Before the cake

If you’re making a meal of it in Prekmurje, Taste Slovenia suggests regional dishes to start with, bograč, a goulash-style hotpot of three meats made there since 1950, with its biggest cooking contest in Lendava, dödöle, a potato mash, or bujta repa, a winter dish of sour turnip and pork.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Murska Sobota and choose by the reviews.

Gibanica’s cousins

Don’t confuse it with other gibanicas from the east. Taste Slovenia mentions prleška gibánca, from Prlekija, and the Tourist Board the Haloze gibanica, each with its own recipe. If you’re touring the east, it’s worth trying more than one and comparing. To place them among the country’s other dishes, start with Slovenian food. From the Alps comes a very different cake, Bled cream cake.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Murska Sobota before prices climb.