This flourless Spanish Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago, or St. James’ Cake) came to us from Recipephany’s Senior Cookie Advisor, Joanne Hofmann Sexeny (see Pecan Praline Cookies). Moist, sweet, light and fluffy, this simple cake tastes luxurious and looks elegant.
“It’s my best almond cake go-to,” Joanne said, pointing us to the Tarta de Santiago recipe on Epicurious.
Then out of the blue we got an email from Steve Granek, also a fan of the Epicurious almond cake. He had stumbled onto Recipephany and suspected that the cake and its backstory would ring our chimes. Well, did it ever.
Steve bakes the cake frequently, and in many variations—with lemon and orange zest, only lemon zest, and with or without cinnamon. “It is very forgiving,” he said. “And it is, frankly, to die for.”
Steve’s an even bigger fan of the recipe’s writer, Claudia Roden, award-winning cookbook author and cultural anthropologist. Roden revealed that the famous almond cake honoring St. James (Santiago), the patron saint of Spain, started out as a Jewish Passover cake.
Jewish roots
The cake is most famous in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia, home of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the holy destination of the Camiño de Santiago. Pilgrims and hikers can stop for this iconic treat at bakeries and restaurants all along the trail. The dagger-like St. James’ Cross outlined in powdered sugar makes it easy to spot.
But the cake didn’t always have a cross.
From the 11th Century, a community of Jews thrived in the Galician city of Coruña. Later in the Middle Ages, Jews from the south of Spain fled persecution and found refuge in Coruña. According to Roden, they brought this Passover cake with them.
The Alhambra Decree of 1492
With this edict, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave Jews the choice: expulsion, conversion to Catholicism, or death.
But those converted (called conversos) who kept their Kosher diets and traditional foods could still face death. The Inquisition used food as a tool to weed them out. For instance, eating ham in public became a test to see if a Jew had truly converted.
So the Spanish Almond Cake chose conversion. And fortunately, it also appealed to Christians. Rebranded with St. James’ cross, it became totally safe for Jews—and everyone—to eat.
An ecumenical choice
Think of this cake as a happy fusion of cultures. Now everybody can enjoy it. Except, sadly, those who can’t eat nuts or eggs. We’ll be on the lookout for a cake for them.
Spanish Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago, or St. James’ Cake)
Adapted from Claudia Roden’s Food of Spain with help from Joanne Hofmann Sexeny
Special equipment: 9” springform pan
- ½ pound (about 2 cups) almond flour. Or, ½ pound (about 1¾ cups) of whole blanched almonds finely ground in a food processor.
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- About a teaspoon grated orange zest, or to taste
- About a teaspoon grated lemon zest, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Beat egg yolks and sugar into a smooth, pale cream. Beat in the zests and vanilla. Add the almond flour and beat to combine.
- With clean beaters, beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold them into the almond mixture. Cut and fold repeatedly into the thick almond mixture to aerate with the whites.
- Brush a 9-inch (preferably nonstick) springform pan with Cake Goop, or grease and flour it. Pour in the batter, and bake about 40 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch. Let cool.
- Release the cake from the bottom of the pan using a tool that won’t scratch the nonstick surface, such as a small plastic knife. Then, using a cake lifter or a flat baking tray, move the cake to a serving plate. (The top of the cake cracks easily, so we prefer to keep the cake upright rather than flip it over.)
- Just before serving, dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar. Or, use non-melting confectioners’ sugar any time.
Variation: Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, either with the zests or replacing one or both.
