Spanish · Desserts

Tarta de Santiago

An almond cake with no flour in it, stencilled with the cross of Saint James. Fifty minutes and four ingredients.

50 min prep and cooking plus 20 min cooling plus time for cooling completely, which the recipe does not time at least 1 hr 10 min start to finish Serves 8 servings Easy
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Tarta de Santiago

Photograph credit: Tarta de Santiago by jlastras · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr

Tarta de Santiago, Step by Step

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  1. Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and butter and line a 23 cm springform tin.

  2. Whisk the eggs and caster sugar with an electric whisk for 5 minutes, until pale, thick and holding a ribbon on the surface.

  3. Whisk in the lemon and orange zest, the cinnamon, almond extract and salt.

  4. Fold in the ground almonds in three additions, stopping as soon as each disappears.

  5. Scrape into the tin and level the top.

  6. Bake 35 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.

  7. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.

  8. Cut a cross of Saint James from paper and lay it on the cake.

  9. Dust heavily with icing sugar, then lift the stencil straight up.

  10. Serve at room temperature.

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Tips for Making Tarta de Santiago

  • Five minutes of whisking. It is the only lift the cake gets.
  • Fold the almonds in, do not beat them.
  • Lift the stencil straight up or you smudge the cross.

Serving Suggestions

  • A glass of sweet sherry
  • Strong coffee
  • Fresh orange segments

Keeping and Reheating

Keeps 5 days in a tin and improves after a day. Freezes 2 months.

Tarta de Santiago: Questions and Answers

How long does Tarta de Santiago take to make?

15 minutes of preparation and 35 minutes of cooking, plus 20 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 10 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 8.

Tarta de Santiago Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

387Calories
10gProtein
44gCarbs
19gFat
5gFibre
38gSugar
110mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .