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Best Tarta de Santiago in London
“Almond cake from Galicia, marked with the cross of pilgrimage—a medieval reward for those who completed the Camino.”
What the real thing tastes like
Torta de Santiago (in Galician) or Tarta de Santiago (in Spanish), literally meaning cake of St. James, is an almond cake or pie from Galicia with its origin in the Middle Ages and the Camino de Santiago. The ingredients mainly consist of ground almonds (almond flour), eggs, and sugar, with additional flavouring of lemon zest, sweet wine, brandy, or grape marc, depending on the recipe used. It is the most well known of the cakes of Galicia. Torta de Santiago has a round shape and can be made with or without a base which can be either puff pastry or shortcrust pastry. The top of the pie is decorated with powdered sugar, stencilled by a silhouette of the Cross of Saint James (cruz de Santiago) which gives the pastry its name. The origin of the cross being decorated on the cake dates to 1924 when the "Casa Mora" began to adorn the almond cakes with the silhouette. The cross is a symbol of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimages, and the cake said to reward pilgrims upon the completion of their
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Tarta de Santiago is a almond cake from Galicia with medieval roots and a spiritual purpose—pilgrims once finished the Camino de Santiago and received this reward. Ground almonds, eggs, and sugar form the tender crumb, sometimes scented with lemon zest, brandy, or grape marc, baked into a round that may rest on puff pastry or shortcrust or stand alone. The signature is powdered sugar dusted through a stencil of Saint James's cross, a tradition begun in 1924 that turned decoration into identity.
Order it here when it has
- EU-protected geographic origin
- documented since 1577
- pilgrim tradition
- regional staple
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