diff --git a/dune/gfe/cosseratenergystiffness.hh b/dune/gfe/cosseratenergystiffness.hh
index 7c95109e2dd76f98509918c56eaed0d714884019..cec69c76ebe1c713986b9b93a15cd7dc8ecfac06 100644
--- a/dune/gfe/cosseratenergystiffness.hh
+++ b/dune/gfe/cosseratenergystiffness.hh
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ curvatureEnergyGradient(typename TargetSpace::EmbeddedTangentVector& embeddedLoc
                         const Dune::array<Tensor3<field_type,3,3,4>, 3>& dDR_dv) const
 {
 #ifndef DONT_USE_CURL
-#error curvatureEnergyGradient not implemented for the curl curvature energy
+    DUNE_THROW(Dune::NotImplemented, "curvatureEnergyGradient not implemented for the curl curvature energy!");
 #endif
     embeddedLocalGradient = 0;