Buen Camino to Santiago

 Pastel de Santiago

 Sharing a meal with pilgrims on their way to Santiago has to be one of the most enjoyable experiences in Northern rural Spain and even better when there was a new cake to taste. Here's Rocio's recipe for a wonderful Santiago Cake called 'Pastel de Santiago' in Spanish. 

Pastel de Santiago

250g caster sugar

250g ground almonds

1 tps cinnamon

5 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Mark 4. Mix the sugar with the ground almonds and cinnamon. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating them into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 23cm/9 inch flan dish or cake tin. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a cooling rack. Place a Santiago cross or cut-out (see photo below) in the centre to act as a stencil. Then sprinkle with sieved icing sugar and remove the stencil to leave an outline of the Santiago cross.

 Rocio runs the beautiful Hotel Rural las Aguedas  in a small village called Ventosa in the region of La Rioja, on one of the Caminos de Santiago (traditional pilgrimage pathways to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela - St. James). 

On our last evening, we were in the company of 3 pilgrims who were walking to Santiago, Klaus from Munich, Pierre from Poitiers and Sunny, originally from Korea but now living in Los Angeles. Since it was Sunny's birthday, Rocio had made the special Santiago Cake for us all to share. It is a scrumptious cake and was the perfect end to a glorious meal with our new friends. We all sang 'Happy Birthday' and wished her 'Buen Camino'. 

Santiago de Compostela

Going Nuts in France

 Going nuts on the market in Sarlat

The squirrels around our garden would have had an amazing time if they’d been on holiday in the Lozere and Perigord areas of France.  I’ve never seen so many nuts or ‘noix’ on display in the markets. 

Nuts galore on the market

Nutty treats included the scrumptious Gateaux aux noix. It's not like an sponge cake as the texture is dense but it's certainly delicious! Here’s a recipe which a French friend gave me – tres facile!

Gateau aux Noix

100g caster sugar

100g butter (softened)

150g( chopped) walnuts

40g flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

Fold the chopped walnuts in half the sugar. Mix the butter and the rest of the sugar together. Add the chopped walnuts and sugar mixture and then the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour and salt. Grease a cake tin or dish (approx 20cms) and pour the mixture into it. Bake in a hot oven (Mark 7, 210-220C) for around 30 minutes. Allow to cool. 

Decoration

200g icing sugar

2 tbsps coffee granules 

Water to mix

Whole walnuts

Make the icing by sieving the icing sugar and coffee powder (grind the granules in a pestle and mortar) and adding a couple of tbsps of water. Mix until smooth and not too runny. Coat the top of the cake and finally decorate with whole walnuts. 

Grandma’s tips :

Use a food processor to chop up the walnuts.

Grind the coffee granules to a powder in a pestle and mortar.

You can add a splash of Armagnac to the cake mixture before baking.  

Laurent and Pat served some tasty aperitifs including Le Birlou, a fabulous aperitif made from apples and chestnuts in their wonderful renovated farmhouse at  La Borie d'Aubrac in the SW corner of France. It’s on the pilgrimage route to  Santiago de Compostella but you didn’t have to be one of the pilgrims to enjoy  the laughter and conviviality around the large dining table every evening with different nationalities coming together to enjoy our hosts’ fabulous hospitality. I showed them Grandma’s blog. Expect to hear of international puddings and cakes added to the Recipes. Bon appétit! 

Have you got a favourite international cake recipe?