Tarta de Santiago (Almond cake)

Tarta de Santiago (Almond cake)

Tarta de Santiago or St James cake is an almond cake from Santiago de Compostela, Galicia a region on the NW, of Spain. You probably know Santiago because is the city where the most famous religious "Camino" ends.

Galicia it is one of the most beautiful parts of Spain, their landscape, the contrast between mountains and ocean and, of course, their food makes it a must if you visit Spain.

Galicia is home for "Padron" peppers, the best scampi and octopus or the weird looking "percebes" that you can only find in this region, but also for one of the best steak, called la vaca rubia gallega which is usually consumed with around 30-60 days dry aged.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

200gr of caster sugar

200 gr of almond meal

1 lemon zest

1 orange zest

1 tsp of cinamon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°.

2. Whisk the sugar with the eggs firstly until smooths and well combined.

3. Then add the dried ingredients (flour, cinnamon and lemons zest) slowly to the wet ingredients until is mixed without overmixing it.

4. Add the mixture to a cake tin (we used a 20cm) and place it in the preheated oven.

5. Cook for about during 25-30min or until a you can insert a knife in the middle and comes out clean.

6. While is baking draw the cross stencil and keep it for the end. We recommend to draw it in a stronger paper or paperboard to make it easy to remove it after we put the sugar.

7. When the cake is ready remove it from the oven and leave cool down for around 20min.

8. Put the paper cross on the middle of the cake and with a strainer start to sprinkle the icing sugar all around the cake.

9. Take of the cross carefully and your cake is ready to be enjoyed.

Byron & María

The Coastal Cocina