St. James Cross Cake Stencils
St. James Cross Cake Stencils
St. James Cross Cake Stencils
St. James Cross Cake Stencils

St. James Cross Cake Stencils

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These stencils come right from the heart of Santiago de Compostela, the end of the Camino de Santiago. Use these stencils to make the Cross of St. James on a traditional Spanish almond cake.

We were fortunate to walk the Santiago de Compostela with the amazing Fresco Tours (frescotours.com). This recipe comes from Jason, a former guide. Thank you for this, Jason!

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I love Tarta de Santiago. Every bar and restaurant along the Camino in Galicia serves it and I have tried most of them. When I got back to Avilés after the last tour I was suffering from what the Spanish call Morriña- that is a special kind of homesickness that people get when they have been away from Galicia for too long. The only remedy was to find a recipe and cook a Tarta de Santiago.

It is surprisingly easy. I'm going to give you the measurements in the easy manner that I like to approach cooking:

3 cups of ground almonds; 3/4 cup of flour; a cup of sugar; 4 eggs; half a pack of butter; a ploff of baking powder; some water; lemon rind. You can put icing sugar on the top but I think that makes it too sweet.

You start off mixing the butter and sugar until it makes a creamy paste and then you blend in the eggs and beat the mixture. Add the water, flour and baking powder and give it whizz with an electric hand mixer. Stir the almonds in. You can use a mixture of ground almonds and almonds you grind yourself- the rougher almonds in there give it a good crunch! Stir in the lemon rind. Use the zest of the whole lemon because it really zips up the taste.

Put the mixture in a 10 inch sprung cake tin, well greased beforehand and bake in the oven at about 180ºc for 45 minutes or so. If a knife comes out clean it is done, and remember it is a question of taste: if you like your tarta with a slightly moister texture like me, you won't want to overcook it.

This worked a dream for me and I already have the ingredients ready for the next one. The only problem is that there are four of us at home and they all want some!

Jason