Tarta de Santiago
Tarta de Santiago is tied for centuries to the pilgrimage tradition toward Santiago de Compostela, where Galician monasteries baked almond cakes for the exhausted pilgrims arriving at the end of the Way of Saint James. Almonds, brought by Mediterranean traders and grown in Galician orchards, offered a dense source of calories, ideal for people walking hundreds of kilometres, and a written recipe already appears in monastic documents from 1577.\n\nThe Cross of Saint James, traced in icing sugar with the help of a stencil, only became part of the recipe toward the end of the 19th century, cementing the cake's link to the symbol of the chivalric order bearing the saint's name. Today Tarta de Santiago holds Protected Geographical Indication status, and any pilgrim finishing the Camino de Santiago is almost certain to find a slice waiting in some café near the cathedral.
No flour, just almonds
The crumb is made entirely from ground almonds, sugar, eggs and lemon zest — not a trace of flour, a naturally gluten-free cake.
The sword stencil on top
The Cross of Saint James, cut from a stencil and dusted in icing sugar, is the cake's signature mark on every table in Santiago.
An old monastery recipe
The recipe is documented in Galician monasteries as far back as the 16th century, tied to the pilgrimage tradition to Santiago de Compostela.
Scented with lemon zest and cinnamon
Lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon lift the dense almond flavor without ever masking it.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 250g ground almonds
- 200g sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp butter, for greasing the tin
- Icing sugar, for finishing
- A paper stencil of the Cross of Saint James
How to make it
- 1Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 23cm round tin with butter.
- 2Beat the eggs with the sugar for a few minutes, until pale and frothy.
- 3Add the ground almonds, lemon zest, cinnamon, and almond extract, then fold everything together gently with a spatula until just combined, without overmixing the batter.
- 4Pour the batter into the tin and level the surface with the spatula.
- 5Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cake is golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean from the centre.
- 6Let the cake cool completely in the tin, then lay the Cross of Saint James stencil over the top.
- 7Dust generously with icing sugar over the stencil, then carefully lift it away, revealing the cross traced in sugar on the surface of the cake.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
