Hi!!!! I am so sorry I haven’t been posting regularly lately but I’m still on the first part of my summer holidays back home in Dubrovnik and I needed some time away from the kitchen and just being with my family and friends. It’s been a very hot summer so far and we have about 37 C every day so I’ve been making a lot of cold smoothies, frozen fruit ice creams and little raw desserts that don’t involve switching on the oven. I am still quite active on my facebook and instagram pages so I hope you follow me there! 🙂
Soon I will be going back to Switzerland and my mountain and I’ll try to post something delicious before I’m off again for the second part of my holidays. I am so excited about that and I’ll share with you soon where I’m travelling! For the moment I’ll just say that it’s far away from Europe and I think I will be very inspired for my photography and there will be a lot to share with you all when I come back from that trip!
But before all that I have a cake for you. Simple delicious almond cake.
For this cake I adapted a recipe for traditional Spanish almond cake that is called Tarta de Santiago. You can find the original recipe for that cake here. Tarta de santiago is naturally gluten free so great for those who can’t tolerate gluten.
Original version of the cake is made with quite a large amount of white sugar so I adapted it to be a bit healthier but still sweet enough and delicious so that’s why I used combination of coconut sugar and honey. This simple cake is perfect for your afternoon tea or coffee.
Story about the cake…
Here is a little story about the original cake. This delicious almond cake is named in honor of Santiago (St. James), the patron saint of Spain. (The feast day of St. James is celebrated nationally in Spain every July 25th.) His remains are buried in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. During the Middle Ages, the pilgrimage to Santiago was the most important pilgrimage of the Christian world. Today, many people still make the trip to Santiago not just for religious reasons, but as a cultural, historical or active vacation.
The cake’s origin is not certain, but it may have been brought to Galicia by a pilgrim. Today, this cake is sold all over Santiago de Compostela and is popular with tourists and pilgrims. The traditional way to decorate is to sprinkle powdered sugar on the top, with a cut-out of the sword of St. James or a cross on top.
- 4 medium eggs (separated whites and yolks)
- ½ cup (100 g) coconut sugar (or unrefined light brown sugar)
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup (200 g) ground almonds
- 1 lemon zest, grated
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- Icing sugar for dusting
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a 25 cm (10 inch) springform cake tin with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt using electric mixer until soft peaks form. Whisk in coconut sugar and combine.
- In a separate bowl whisk the yolks with honey, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon zest until the mixture thickens slightly.
- Mix in the ground almonds and then gently fold in the whites.
- Pour into prepared cake tin and bake about 35-40 minutes until the tested comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
- Dust with icing sugar and serve with strawberries or other fruit of your choice.
- Note: This cake is naturally gluten free so great for those who can’t tolerate gluten.
I have only recently discovered coconut sugar and I am now obsessed 🙂 I can’t wait to try this, it looks fabulous <3
Thank you, hope you’ll like it! I completely switched to coconut sugar and other natural sweeteners like maple syrup, agave, honey and dates about 2 and half years ago and don’t miss white sugar one bit! I also feel so much better since I stopped eating refined sugar! I don’t like to be extreme in anything so if someone offers me a piece of cake made with regular sugar, I’ll still eat it but that’s only occasionally. 🙂