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Wednesday 4 August 2021

Spanish Almond Cake : A Low Carb Recipe Suggestion

Tarta de Santiago is also known as the best Spanish almond cake, and is a delicious recipe from the northern region of Spain, Galicia. Santiago cake is known for its famous Saint James cross, baked to commemorate the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in honour of St. James, the patron saint of Spain, but that is just the traditional look of it, the best part comes when you get to try it! Its soft texture and sweet taste make it one of those desserts every single Spaniard loves!

Although Santiago cakes origin is not well known, it is said that during the Middle Ages, almonds were expensive and only a few could purchase them. Therefore, this cake was considered a luxury dessert.

The first reference for something similar to this Spanish almond cake is from 1577, when Pedro do Porto visited Santiago university and tried the “torta real,” which had similar ingredients to what we know now as Tarta de Santiago. 
The first recipes came from Bartolomé de Leybar in 1838.

The Santiago cross started to be popular in 1924, when it was used in Galicia to decorate the dessert/cake. Since then, it has been getting more and more popular internationally. In fact nowadays this Galician almond cake has become so popular, that it isn't like any other dessert, it is a symbol of the area and the whole country.

The delicately sweet Tarta de Santiago has been a Spanish favourite for centuries, baked to commemorate the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in honour of St. James, the patron saint of Spain and you may be pleased to know that this traditional Galician dessert now has a low carb version. If you want to decorate it with the Cross of Santiago (optional) you can download a template here


Ingredients
Serves Eight
2g net carbs per serving
5 eggs
160 ml (140 g) erythritol
½ tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp ground cinnamon
600 ml (280 g) almond flour
4 tbsp powdered erythritol for decorating
Instructions
can be seen here

I hope you may enjoy a slice of this moist almond cake flavoured with lemon zest and a hint of cinnamon soon.

Some readers may also like to try this Italian Lemon Cake, it's low carb and uses a mix of almond flour with coconut flour and olive oil, see more details here


You will find a variety of recipe ideas within this blog. Please note, not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan

24 comments:

J.P. Alexander said...

Gracias por la receta te mando un beso

Elephant's Child said...

That does sound good. Quality nuts are still not cheap - but worth an occasional extravagance.

Tom said...

...something that I have never had.

Gloria Baker said...

I love this recipe Looks wonderful!!

Christine said...

Looks delicious.

Margaret D said...

Looks good and I love cinnamon.

Valerie-Jael said...

Sounds great, almond cake and lemon cakes are my faves. Have a great day, hugs, Valerie

Teresa said...

Está riquísima, me encanta. Besos.

Jo said...

That sounds right up my street, perfect with a cup of tea.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I've actually never seen almond flour in the stores where I shop, but this sounds yummy because I love cinnamon. I think I'll go with powdered sugar, though.

Veronica Lee said...

I enjoyed reading the story behind the cake. How interesting!

Yumm! I'd love to try this!

Marco Luijken said...

Hey Jan,
That looks very tasty.
You can make this so well.
And always nice to see how you have photograph all the food on a good and special way.

Greetings, Marco

CJ Kennedy said...

Sounds delicious. Simple but sweet.

R's Rue said...

Wow. This looks scrumptious. Thank you so much. I need to make this so much.

My name is Erika. said...

That looks good. Too bad I am allergic to almonds. I would love to be able to use them more in my baking. Thanks for sharing though.

Sami said...

Lovely cake :) Thanks Jan

Debbie said...

almond cake, YuM!!!

eileeninmd said...

Looks delicious!
Take care, enjoy your day and week ahead.

Sue said...

I'm a fan of both almond and lemon cake so all is good! xx

DVArtist said...

This is something I would bake for sure.

Bob Bushell said...

You have my mouth waters, beautiful Jan.

Rajani Rehana said...

So delicious ��

Ananka said...

This sounds amazing :-D

sandy said...

anything spicy like this i love.