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Dinner with Rukmini
Browse all of the recipes in Rukmini Iyer’s cookbooks by ingredient.
Tarta De Santiago
Introduction from Rukmini Iyer
This delicious almond cake originates in Galicia, where to be called a proper Tarta de Santiago the proportions of the ingredients must meet the standards of the Consello Regulador – no less than 33% almonds, 33% sugar and 25% eggs. I love this sort of precision when baking – for an authentic finish, you can cut out a St James cross from an online template, and use it as a stencil before decorating the cake with icing sugar.
Ingredients
Essential kit
You will need: a 20cm round cake tin and a wire rack.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/gas 4. Butter and line a 20cm round cake tin and set aside.
Using a freestanding or hand-held electric whisk, beat the eggs and caster sugar until light, pale and foamy – there’s no other raising agent in this cake, so it’s important to beat in as much air as possible. This will take about 5 minutes.
Very gently fold in the ground almonds a few tablespoons at a time, along with the lemon zest and ground cinnamon. Spoon the batter into the lined cake tin, then transfer to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown and firm on top.
Let the cake cool in its tin before unmoulding and placing on a wire rack.
If using a decorative stencil, place it in the middle of the cake and dust with icing sugar, carefully removing the stencil afterwards.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container for 2–3 days.
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