At The Table : Tarta de Santiago
About a year ago I developed a mountain of allergies that meant all the sweet treats I wanted to enjoy were out of the picture. Say goodbye to cinnamon buns, carrot cake, scones with cream and jam and basically any baked good as you know it. I’ve spent hours since on Pinterest trying to find knew ways to bake and consume these foods, discovering new flours, that peanut butter and maple syrup make a pretty good caramel replacement, and which oils work best to substitute butter. And although generally having more of a savoury tooth (potatoes in any form have been by actual saviour during this discovery of what I can and can’t eat), the fact I was unable to eat these foods only made those moments of sweet cravings worse.
Until…
Whilst on my search of ‘almond flour desserts’ I discovered the Tarta de Santiago, a thin, yet light and fluffy almond cake that’s naturally diary and wheat flour free. After looking into the recipe I quickly discovered this cake originates from Galicia, a region in the Northwest of Spain where my boyfriends family are from. I couldn’t believe my luck, a cake I can eat that comes from a place I’ll hopefully be visiting a lot in the years to come - a match made in heaven!
After trying a few different recipes and altering them to get the best results I am sharing with you the recipe that I stick to when making a Tarta de Santiago. I hope you enjoy if you get the chance to make this - or better still visit Galicia and try it there for yourself!
Ingredients:
225g caster sugar
225g ground almonds
4 Large eggs
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
1 tbsp of cointreau, or similar liquor (optional)
Icing sugar to dust
Flaked almonds for decoration (optional)
Method:
Pre heat the oven to 180°C and line a cake tin (roughly 20-25cm) with baking paper and grease
Beat the eggs and caster sugar together so that there is a little air in the mixture until it becomes light in colour and a smooth creamy consistency
Add the ground almonds, cinnamon, zest of the orange and lemon and your liquor of choice. Mix together until combined. Be careful not to over mix here, you still want some air in your mixture
Pour the mixture into your lined cake tin, I sprinkle some flaked almonds on top at this point but this is optional
Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack. Once cooled dust with icing sugar
Traditionally a Tarta De Santiago would have a stencil of the cross of St. James cut out when dusting but I just dust icing sugar all over the top
Cut a slice and enjoy!
