Tarta de Santiago
Galician Almond Cake with the Cross of Saint James
Three ingredients do the work: ground almonds, sugar and eggs, in roughly equal weights. There is no flour and no butter. The cake comes out low, moist and golden, and is finished with icing sugar dusted round a stencil of the cross of Saint James.
The protected-name specification requires that almonds make up at least 33 per cent of the batter, sugar at least 33 per cent and egg at least 25 per cent. Lemon zest, sweet wine or a spirit may be added. The cake is round, dusted with icing sugar and marked with the cross of Saint James. It may be made with or without a pastry base; without one it is baked at about 180 to 200°C for about half an hour.
The recipe on Spain's official tourism site uses 4 eggs with 250 g each of sugar and ground almonds, lemon zest and cinnamon, baked at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 250 g caster sugar
- 250 g ground almonds
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- A little butter or oil, for the tin
- Icing sugar, to finish
Method
- Prepare Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 22 cm springform tin and line the base with baking paper.
- Mix Beat the eggs with the sugar for 2 to 3 minutes, until pale and slightly thickened but not a foam. Fold in the ground almonds, lemon zest and cinnamon until evenly combined.
- Bake Pour into the tin and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden, firm at the edge and just set in the middle. A skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs.
- Finish Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then unmould and cool completely. Lay the paper cross in the middle, dust the whole top generously with icing sugar and lift the stencil straight up.
It keeps for several days in a tin and improves on the second day.