Spanish · Galicia · dessert

Tarta de Santiago

Tarta de Santiago reads sweetness 7.0, citrus 5.2 and richness 5.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Spanish · Galicia dessert, about 1 hr 17 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 7.0 · Citrus 5.2 · Richness 5.1 · Nutty 5.0 · Sourness 4.7 · Fruity 4.2 · Salinity 3.0 · Warm Spice 2.0 · Umami 1.8 · Earthy 1.2 · Floral 1.1 · Bitterness 0.6

What's in it (9)

Time & effort: about 1 hr 17 min (47 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 375.6 kcal, 10.1 g protein, 20.5 g fat, 42.3 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. The protected recipe is almost aggressively short: almonds, sugar, eggs, zest. There is no flour and no raising agent, and the tart is meant to be dense and slightly damp, not cakey. The PGI specification requires at least 33 percent almond by weight of the finished tart, and it is worth honouring — this is one of the few famous cakes where cutting the nuts with flour ruins it outright.
  2. Grind the almonds yourself if you can, in short pulses, stopping while there is still a little grit. Shop-bought ground almonds are milled to a powder and give a smoother, duller crumb.
  3. Heat the oven to 180C (355F). Butter a 24 cm loose-bottomed tin and line the base.
  4. Whisk the eggs and sugar together for 5 minutes, until pale, thick and roughly doubled. All the lift in this tart comes from that air, so do not stop early — the whisk should leave a trail that holds for two seconds.
  5. Fold in the ground almonds, lemon zest, cinnamon, salt and orujo in three additions, using a spatula and a light hand, about 2 minutes. Stop as soon as no dry almond is visible.
  6. Pour into the tin, level it, and bake 35 minutes, until the top is domed and gold and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the tin 30 minutes.
  7. Cut the cross of Saint James from paper, lay it on the cooled tart, dust heavily with icing sugar and lift the stencil straight up. Keeps four days in a tin and improves on the second.
  8. Substitutions: sweet Muscat wine can stand in for the orujo.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.