A stone cake might not sound like the most appetising dessert, but the residents of Dol on Brač would beg to differ. Perhaps their most important tradition, harking back to the 18th century, is a cake called hrapocusa.
Unique in its coarse and rustic look, the cake shares its name with a local reddish stone used in almost all construction in Dol. Many houses have been hewn from historic caves where island’s early residents, named after a mythical supernatural being, first lived.
Now the present-day citizens of Dol will be celebrating the almond-and-walnut flavoured delicacy – protected by the Croatian State as an intangible cultural heritage – this evening, Sunday August 14, from 8.30pm.
Aside from copious amounts of hrapocusa, the celebrations entail an exhibition on the cake’s history and preparation that takes place within the caves themselves. Around the main square, another exhibition, The Brač Memento, presents the works of famed photographer Aleksander Kukec, who immortalised the island between 1955 and 1965. The musical programme on the square includes the prize-winning Brač traditional klapa singing group Morbin, performing amid beautifully illuminated surroundings.