TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Tarta de SantiagoGalician Almond Cake
A Galician cake baked mainly from almonds, sugar and eggs. This version has no flour-based crust, pairing a lightly browned surface with a moist interior.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Ground almonds150 g
- Granulated sugar150 g
- Eggs3 eggs
- Lemon peel (Japanese-grown, unwaxed)3 g
- Ground cinnamon0.5 g
- Unsalted butterFor greasing the tin5 g
- Icing sugar15 g
Method
Prepare the tin and almonds
- 1 Preheat the oven to 170°C.
- 2 Line the base of an 18 cm round loose-bottomed tin with baking paper and grease the sides with 5 g of butter.
- 3 Finely grate 3 g of yellow lemon zest.
- 4 Break up any clumps in 150 g of ground almonds with your fingers.
Ready when
Continue when the tin is evenly lined and greased and no large clumps remain in the almonds.
Mix the eggs and almonds
- 1 In a bowl, mix 3 eggs and 150 g of sugar until uniform, without whisking in too much air.
- 2 Add the almonds, lemon zest and 0.5 g of cinnamon, then mix with a spatula.
- 3 Pour into the tin and level the surface.
Ready when
Continue when the thick batter is uniform and free of clumps.
Bake the almond batter
- 1 Bake in the oven at 170°C for 30–35 minutes.
- 2 Insert a skewer into the centre to check. If raw batter sticks to it, bake for another 5 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when the surface is golden and only fine, moist crumbs cling to the skewer.
Cool and stencil with icing sugar
- 1 Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes.
- 2 Place a paper stencil of the cross of Saint James in the centre and dust with a thin layer of 15 g of icing sugar.
- 3 Lift the paper off gently, cut into 4 portions and serve on plates.
Ready when
It is ready when cooled to the centre and the outline of the cross remains on the surface.
About this dish
The surface of tarta de Santiago bears the cross of Saint James outlined in icing sugar. Made principally from almonds, eggs and sugar, it is a representative sweet of Galicia.
Official product documentation points to a record connected with this cake in an investigation carried out at the University of Santiago in 1577. An almond sweet called a “royal cake” appeared in meals served to teaching staff on the occasion of degree conferrals.
Centuries after that record of university meals, the almond cake became a speciality made in Galicia's pastry workshops. Its present form also preserves the cross design added in the intervening years.
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