About the bake
Originating from Galicia in North-Western Spain during the time of medieval pilgrimage, this tart is traditionally decorated with the St James cross. With its wonderfully moist almond and citrus flavours, this torte makes a perfect dessert or partner to an afternoon café con leche (milky coffee). This recipe was taken from World's best cakes by Roger Pizey, published by Jacqui Small.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan 150°C, gas mark 3) and grease an 28cm (11in) springform cake tin.
Step 2:
Cream 180g (6½oz) of the sugar, zests and egg yolks together until light and fluffy. Next, stir in the ground almonds, almond extract and the cinnamon.
Step 3:
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs whites with the remaining sugar until stiff. Add about one-quarter of the egg whites into the thick almond mixture and beat. Add a further quarter and repeat. Add the remaining egg white mixture and fold in until fully combined.
Step 4:
Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Step 5:
Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack.
Step 6:
To follow the time-honoured tradition of decoration, find the shape of the St James cross using the internet and print it out. Cut out the middle of the cross to use as a stencil.
Step 7:
Once the cake is cooled, dust the cake with icing sugar and serve straightaway
Ingredients
- 260g Almonds (ground)
- 255g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster sugar
- 1 Orange(s) (zest only)
- 1 Lemon (zest only)
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (separated)
- 0.5 tsp Almond extract
- 0.5 tsp Cinnamon
- Icing sugar (to dust)
Utensils
- 28cm
- 11in cake tin
Recipe Reviews
Hello - did you use almond meal ? Or did you simply process natural almonds (unbalanced)
We used ground almond for this recipe. It is possible to make your own ground almonds if you prefer this to a shop bought ingredient
Really easy and so good
This cake was such a hit! I really love how light it is. I decreased the sugar and swapped out the almond extract for vanilla extract because that's what I had in my cupboard.
Lovely flavour with the orange zest, easy recipe, my first ever bake. Used a 25cm cake tin which was fine. This will become a firm favourite in our family
Excellent, every time. Thank you for this recipe which brings back fond memories of the Camino!
Wonderful flavours. It was fascinating to watch it rise in the oven and while it was cooling, it pulled away from the sides of the pan, but didn’t deflate. Used a 9”x2.5” round cake pan.
Ingredients
- 260g Almonds (ground)
- 255g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster sugar
- 1 Orange(s) (zest only)
- 1 Lemon (zest only)
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (separated)
- 0.5 tsp Almond extract
- 0.5 tsp Cinnamon
- Icing sugar (to dust)
Utensils
- 28cm
- 11in cake tin