Tarta de Santiago
A moist Galician almond cake with no flour at all, scented with lemon, dusted with sugar through the stenciled cross of Saint James.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total
- 55 min
- serves
- 8
- level
- easy
Tarta de Santiago comes from Galicia and carries the symbol of the pilgrimage route that ends there: the Cross of Saint James, stenciled in powdered sugar across the top. The cake itself is almost absurdly simple, just eggs, sugar, ground almonds and lemon zest.
With no flour at all, the texture sits somewhere between a cake and a dense almond tart, moist in the middle with a light crust on top. It keeps well, which is part of why pilgrims have carried it for centuries.
Part of our 20 best Spanish recipes list.
method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Butter a 24 cm round tart or cake tin and line the base with parchment paper.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and doubled in volume, about 3 to 4 minutes with an electric mixer.
Fold in the ground almonds, lemon zest and cinnamon gently, in two additions, until just combined. Do not overmix.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden on top and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter.
Cool completely in the tin on a wire rack before turning out.
To decorate, lay a cross-of-Saint-James stencil over the top of the cake and dust generously with icing sugar. Lift the stencil straight up and carefully, so the cross stays sharp.
chef's tips
- There is no flour in a real tarta de Santiago. Ground almonds carry the whole structure, which is why it is naturally gluten-free.
- A paper stencil of the Cross of Saint James, cut by hand, works fine if you do not have a metal one. Search for the shape online and trace it onto paper.
- Let the cake cool completely before dusting. Warm cake melts the sugar and blurs the stencil.
- This cake keeps well for several days at room temperature, covered, and the flavor if anything improves on day two.