Better late than never! I had intended to write about this traditional cake of St. James back in July (25th of July is St. James’ feast), however due to our vacation I wasn’t able to. In case you don’t know – 2010 is a so-called Año Santo Xacobeo, a Holy year – because the feast of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) falls (well, fell) on Sunday. During this entire year, the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela remains open and numerous festivals and events are held in the honor of the patron saint of Spain. As the next Holy year is going to be no sooner than in 2021(!), I’ve prepared this rich almond cake named after St. James, typically sold these days in Santiago de Compostela, and I want to share it with you as well as encourage you to make it! My version of the cake is made solely of almonds, (no flour in sight!), uses cane sugar and it’s more than simple to prepare. And don’t forget: almonds are good for your health!

Ingredients:
250g almonds, lightly toasted and ground
5 eggs, separated
grated peel of 1 lemon
180g blond cane sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
a good splash of extra virgin olive oil
for serving: icing sugar, ground cinnamon
also: a Santiago cross pattern which you can easily find on Internet, print it and cut out with scissors

1. After having toasted the almonds, allowing them to cool down completely and grinding them, beat the egg whites in a bowl and set aside.
2. Then beat together the egg yolks with sugar, add the cinnamon, grated lemon peel, a splash of olive oil and finally, the ground almonds.
3. Now fold in the egg whites (gently!) until just combined and “pour” (or better, spoon) the batter into the prepared round cake pan (20 or 22cm), lined with baking paper, and bake at 180ºC for about 45 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil if necessary.
4. Transfer the cake to the kitchen rack and allow to cool completely. For the Santiago decoration: dust the cake with ground cinnamon first, then place the paper cross pattern in the middle of the cake and dust the whole cake generously with icing sugar.
5. Carefully remove the cross pattern and serve the cake. It keeps well in the fridge, covered, for a few days.

Note: I’m a cinnamon addict and I tend to go rather “heavy” on it, specially in cakes. If you’re not like me, you can easily skip it from the decoration and/or use 1/2 tsp in the cake batter instead of 1 tsp. I’m just sayin’. The cinnamon aroma does, however, not prevail in the cake (if  that’s your concern), it merely contributes to the glorious toasted almond flavor.