Tarta de Santiago

Ingredients

• 250 g ground almonds
• 250 g caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp butter, for the tin
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Before you cook

• Heat the oven to 180C and butter a 24 cm loose-bottomed round tin, then line the base with baking paper.
• Cut a cross of Saint James from a sheet of paper or card, sized to sit inside the top of the cake.
• Grate the lemon zest finely and weigh out the almonds and sugar.
• Bring the eggs to room temperature so they whisk up with more volume.

Steps

1. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and add the caster sugar, the lemon zest and the cinnamon.
2. Whisk for four to five minutes, by hand or with an electric beater, until the mixture is pale and noticeably thickened.
3. Tip in the ground almonds all at once.
4. Fold the almonds through with a spatula using slow figure-of-eight strokes, stopping as soon as no dry patches remain.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and level the surface gently.
6. Bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes, until the top is golden brown and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.
7. Leave the cake in its tin on a rack for twenty minutes, then release the ring and let it cool completely.
8. Lay the paper cross flat on the surface of the cooled cake.
9. Sift the icing sugar evenly over the whole cake through a fine sieve.
10. Lift the paper cross straight up without dragging it, revealing the design underneath, and serve in wedges.