Almond Tart Recipe (Saint James’ Cake)

 

Tarta de Santiago is a typical cake from Galicia, northwest Spain. It is made with ground almonds, sugar, eggs and flavored with cinnamon and lemon. Flour is never used for this cake. In addition, it is decorated with St. James’ Cross, which gives its characteristic look. Today, given that in Spain we celebrate the day of Santiago de Compostela, I baked his cake for dinner. Since I live out of my country, I love to cook typical dishes on their special days. That was the case of the kings cake, Easter donuts and flowers from my village, Saint Jean’s cake (coca de San Juan) or this recipe, the Galician cake par excellence: la tarta de Santiago.

Almond Tart Recipe (Saint James’ Cake)

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Serves: 4 Time: 45 m Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 250 g of almond powder
• 250 g of caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs (or 4 large)
• Zest of half a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• Icing sugar to decorate
• Butter for greasing the pan

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 175 º C, heat top and bottom.
2. In a large bowl, stir with a whisk powdered almonds with sugar, half teaspoon of cinnamon, lemon zest and a pinch of salt.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and incorporate with a spatula or spoon. Avoid introducing air into the mixture.
4. Butter a circular pan about 22 or 23 cm diameter.
5. Pour in the mixture and le it drop gently to remove any air bubbles.
6. Bake in the middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes. To check that the cake is ready, insert a toothpick in the center. If it does not come out dry, bake for a few more minutes.
7. Let stand about 10 minutes before unmolding.
8. Once the cake is cold, place the drawing of Saint-Jacques’ cross and sprinkle with icing sugar with a sieve.
9. Remove the cross and it’s done.

Hints, Tips, and Tricks

• You can decorate with a scallop shell, instead of the cross.
• You can use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar.
• You can use whole almonds and grind them yourself with a coffee grinder or a food processor. You can even make two textures to almonds, one fine and the other a little crunchier.
• If the surface begins to brown too much before the cake is baked, cover it with a sheet of parchment paper.
• You can download the design of the cross by searching the Internet “patrón de la cruz de Santiago“.

 

Categories: postres recipe

Tags: almendras santiago tarta