Potica

A traditional Slovenian festive cake

The Slovenian Potica is typically seen as a Slovenian national dish (in competition with »žganci«).

Known under various names (potica, povitica, potičica, povetica, …), poticas differ not only in size and shape, but particularly in their fillings. Potica has been known for centuries to every household in our little country.

Made of white, wheat or corn flour, filled with nuts, tarragon, carob or chive stuffing, sweet or salty, called potica, povitica  or gubanica – we all like it.

Once upon a time there was a cake

Potica was most probably first mentioned in the 17^th century. Valvasor wrote about festive pastry - the wedding cake – a Slovenian culinary speciality made of white flour with stiffing made of eggs and lard. He also mentioned presnec: a dish made of mlinci with cottage cheese, eggs and pepper, rolled with dough and then baked.

He mentioned potica as well in his famous book Slava Vojvodine Kranjske. According to his texts it was made of very thin layers of dough coated with a filling of honey and walnuts and than rolled. The process of rolling is called “poviti” in the Slovenian language and this is also the reason of its name. In some parts of Slovenia it is still called povitica.

However, the tradition of baking cakes in Slovenia is even older. Slovenian cuisine is known for its love for strong and caloric dishes with a lot of fat and sugar.

The cakes were considered all the farinaceous dishes made of leavened or unleavened dough with several fillings. The cakes could be eaten warm or cold. The peasants used to serve the cakes to their supervisors or tax collectors.