Claudia Roden's Tarta de Santiago
“This is a splendid cake which is normally made in a wide cake or tart tin and comes out low, but it is equally good as a thicker cake. I have eaten almond cakes in other parts of Spain but this one is special” says Roden. “Pilgrims and tourists who visit the great Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where the relics of the apostle Saint James are believed to be buried, see the cake in all the windows of every pastry shop and restaurant, decorated with the shape of the cross of the Order of Santiago.”
The first time I made this cake I had a bit of a disaster. I was cooking a big Spanish themed meal for friends and family and I was already running quite late. I glanced over the recipe but I didn’t read it properly and instead of putting the sugar in with the egg yolks, I put the almond meal in.
Anyone who has made a cake will know what a stupid oversight this was; if you are putting egg yolks with sugar it is with the intention of creaming them and you certainly can’t cream egg yolks and almond meal. In fact the combination made such a sticky, gluggy mess that I had to kneed them. And there was no ‘folding’ the egg whites into the mixture either, again I had to use my hands.