Today I’m bringing you another delicious Spanish desserts I grew up eating, and this is a special one. Picture an incredibly soft and light cake that tastes like almond and vanilla and is covered in crunchy flaky almonds and a generous amount of icing sugar.

Almond Cake or Tarta de Santiago

This cake is particularly close to my heart because it’s traditional from my area, Galicia. It’s actually one of those desserts everyone is super proud of, so you’d gift it to people from outside your region. Like with many traditional desserts, its origin is unknown, however, it’s thought it originated from the middle ages and it was quite an expensive dessert since almonds were used instead of flour.

So, what is it made of?

For so long I thought this cake would be really difficult to make, probably because it’s always at patisseries and it’s a delicious treat that feels incredibly elevated. In reality, it’s actually really easy to make and you’ll only need 6 ingredients:

• Almond flour
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract
• Almonds
• Icing sugar

Spanish Almond Cake – Tarta de Santiago

Ingredients:

• 250 gr of ground almonds
• 250 gr of granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• Flaked almonds to sprinkle (around 20 – 30 gr)
• Icing sugar to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius
2. In a bowl, mix the ground almond and sugar. Then, add in the eggs and whisk – don’t whisk the eggs individually, add the 5 eggs first and then whisk.
3. Mix in the vanilla extract.
4. Grease a 22 cm springform cake tin and pour the cake mix, then top with the flaked almonds.
5. Cook in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until an inserted skewer or toothpick comes out clean.
6. Sprinkle with icing sugar – this is the traditional way – and enjoy on its own or with hot custard.