🍰 Tarta de Santiago
Tarta de Santiago is a Galician almond cake made essentially from ground almonds, eggs, sugar and lemon zest, with no flour. It bakes into a dense, moist, slightly crumbly cake with a strong almond flavour. It is dusted with icing sugar over a stencil of the cross of Saint James and served in slices with coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g ground almonds
- 250 g sugar
- 5 eggs
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 tsp oil to grease the tin
- Icing sugar to dust
Method
- Heat the oven to 180 °C and grease a 24 cm tin with oil.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and foamy.
- Fold in the ground almonds, lemon zest and cinnamon.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 35–40 minutes until golden and set.
- Cool, place a cross-shaped stencil on top and dust with icing sugar.
How to make it lighter
- Cut it into 12 thin slices instead of 8 — it is rich, and a small slice satisfies.
- Serve with fresh berries rather than a second slice.
- Reduce the sugar by a quarter; the almonds keep the cake moist.
History
The cake is named after Saint James (Santiago), patron of Santiago de Compostela, the end point of the famous pilgrimage route. Almond cakes of this kind have been baked in Galicia for centuries, and the cross decoration is usually credited to an early-20th-century bakery in Santiago. It now holds protected geographical indication status in the EU.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →