A Tourist Extravaganza Dedicated to a Cake

During the 5th Days of Samobor Cream Custard Cake, an event scheduled to take place between 8 and 10 May this year, Samobor will again host hordes of visitors that are drawn to the town by Samobor’s famous pastry.

Few people are able to resist the thing that lures the citizens of Zagreb to Samobor as if by magical power. Of course, we are talking about the popular Samobor cream custard cake, possibly the only pastry in the world that is honored by a festival. This year, the Days of the Cream Custard Cake are being held for the fifth time, between 8 and 10 May. Hordes of visitors are expected to head to Samobor to partake in yet another attractive happening in this picture postcard pretty town on the eastern slopes of Samobor Hills.

The history of the cream custard cake of Samobor started with its creator, Ðuro Lukačić, who arrived in Samobor in 1923 in order to learn the pastry making trade at his brother's pastry shop. To broaden his pastry-making horizons even further, he continued his education in nearby Zagreb, where he worked at the Kostinčer's, the Hajoš's and a few other renowned pastry shops. He picked and mixed the pastry recipes he had learned from master pastry chefs and came up with the quintessential taste of the Samobor cream custard cake. Ever since, generations of Zagrebers have flocked to Samobor with their families in order to treat themselves to the wonderful cake that can only be found in Samobor and thus has become the town’s claim to fame. Samobor has decided to repay the cake by staging a whole event in its honor.

The Days of Samobor Cream Custard Cake event was first held in 2001 when a cream custard cake that weighed a whole ton caused a national media stir. Visitors rushed to Samobor and the old town's center was too small for all those who wanted to have a bite of the huge delicacy. Make a cake that weighs a ton? A piece of cake. Try making the smallest cake. And they did. The smallest cream custard cake, only one centimeter in size, was baked by Robert Librić, who was given special recognition for his contribution to the promotion of the tourist idiosyncrasies of Samobor.

The organizer of this quirky event is Samoborfest, with the City of Samobor, its tourist board and the Tourist Board of the County of Zagreb as its sponsors.