A traditional Spanish dessert, the tarta de Santiago can be made ahead of time, then dusted with icing sugar just before serving.

Recipe Sandy Verschoor | Photograph Sarah Long

Tarta de Santiago

255g unrefined golden caster sugar
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
6 eggs (separated)
260g ground almonds
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp cinnamon
icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 170C (fan 150C) and grease a 28cm (11 inch) springform cake tin. Cream 180g of the sugar with the zests and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Stir in the ground almonds, almond extract and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff. Add about a quarter of the egg whites into the thick almond mixture and beat. Add the remaining egg white mixture and fold in until fully combined. Turn the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool before dusting with icing sugar. Serve with a dollop of thickened cream.

 

This recipe first appeared in the March 2022 issue of SALIFE magazine.