St James' tarts

 A day in the woods, lanes and general farmed landscape of Galaicia. We have a bit of time to have a think about things. Let's think about Santiago cake.


Tarta de Santiago is thought to have been made in the Middle Ages. The first recipe to be written down dates to 1577. In May 2010, the EU gave Tarta de Santiago PGI status within Europe. To qualify, the cake must be made in the Autonomous Community of Galicia and contain at least 33% almonds, excluding the base. The cross put on top the cake seems to date from the 1920s.

To make one you need 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar (caster sugar is better, if possible), 2 cups almond flour (or ground almonds), 1 lemon zest ie from 1 lemon. ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoon confectioners sugar approx, to dust (icing sugar).

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line an 8 inch/20cm round cake tin with parchment on the bottom and rub the sides with a little butter.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar. Whisk the two together until well combined and starting to become lighter in color with a bit of air in the mixture.

Add the almond flour/ground almonds, lemon zest and cinnamon and mix until combined, but try not to overmix and get all of the air out of the mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and place in the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Meanwhile, make the cross stencil, if not already prepared.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool around 10-15 minutes on a cooling rack before removing the outer ring. Allow it to cool completely before placing the stencil on top of the middle then dusting some confectioners sugar over the top. Carefully remove the stencil without letting the sugar fall on the area you had covered. Slice and serve or store at room temp, covered.


We are coming to Gorgullos. We first pass a splendidly solid box of a church with a neat little set of bells perched over the entrance. It averages 3.8 stars but gains some interesting reviews. Carlos Mosquera wrote two years ago ‘A very peculiar priest But my parishioners are very funky’. Generally people don;t say why they give the reviews they do.




Gorgullos has about 400 people in it, scattered through the village and nearby hamlets. This is a decline from 650 in 1999. There is not a lot more to be said.





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