Tarta de Santiago recipe

Tomorrow, July 25 is the day of Saint James the Apostle, Galicia Day. That is why the traditional Tarta de Santiago cannot be missing at home. It is a classic of Galician pastry, prepared exclusively with ground almonds, eggs and sugar, to which lemon zest and cinnamon are occasionally added for aroma. Never ever flour, so it is a cake suitable for celiacs. No leavening agent is added either. The result is therefore a dense cake with a deep almond flavor.

The preparation is not very complicated, since the orthodoxy of this cake indicates that the ingredients should only be mixed and then baked. Its recipe and preparation are registered under Protected Geographical Indication, therefore the proportion of eggs, sugar and almond that this cake must contain to be considered "Tarta de Santiago" and not just any almond cake is fixed. The proportion of almond and sugar must be between 33% and 37.5% and the eggs between 33% and 25%.

Wavy ceramic mold by Emilie Henry, Masterclass wooden board and Pallarès iron knife

Sometimes a shortcrust pastry lining is added, which is not usual and which I personally do not like in this cake. The Tarta de Santiago I have eaten all my life in Galicia (Santiago and Rías Baixas) is without a lining. A quality cake is thin and very dense, with a grainy almond texture — you notice the almond. And not at all dry, since the almond provides a lot of moisture.

Let's get on with the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (for a 20-22 cm mold)

• 4 "L" eggs at room temperature (approx. 240 gr)
• 240gr of sugar
• 240gr of Marcona almond ground in two grind sizes (you will need about 280gr of whole almond)
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• Icing sugar for dusting
• Cross of Santiago stencil

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC top and bottom heat.
2. Butter and flour the mold you are going to use. In my case the wavy ceramic mold by Emilie Henry (if you make the cake for celiacs, watch the flour you use to prepare the mold).
3. With the help of a food processor, we grind the almond. Leave half as if it were flour and the other half slightly coarser (note that the almond grinder can also help you with this).
4. Mix the eggs with the sugar and beat with the electric whisks or with the KA balloon attachment, until they almost double in volume (Here you can just mix them and that’s it, that’s a matter of taste).
5. Add the ground almond, the cinnamon and the lemon zest, and mix with a rubber spatula using folding motions.
6. Pour the mixture into the mold and bake for about 30 minutes, until the surface is golden. Start checking at 25 minutes. If you poke the center, the skewer should come out clean, without batter residue.
7. The cake in the oven rises a little if we have chosen to whiten the eggs, but it rises very little and deflates when removed.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack. Unmold after 20 minutes, when it has settled but is still warm. If left much longer, it can stick to the mold due to the high sugar content. But if we have used a properly buttered ceramic mold this will not be necessary.
9. Once cold, place the Cross of Santiago stencil in the center of the cake and dust with icing sugar. Remove the stencil very carefully.
10. Delicious, accompanied by a good herbal orujo, and even better settled the next day.

Fleur de Ligne porcelain bowls Tokyo design, Masterclass wooden board, wavy ceramic mold by Emilie Henry and Pallarès iron knife

Tips

- The thinner the cake, the crunchier. And the thicker, the more moist - provided you don't overbake it.

Enjoy.

Virginia