What Spanish dessert from Santiago is an almond cake dusted with powdered sugar?

The Spanish dessert from Santiago is Tarta de Santiago, a Galician almond cake dusted with powdered sugar.

Its main ingredients are ground almonds, eggs, and sugar, with recipes sometimes adding lemon zest, sweet wine, brandy, or grape marc. It may be baked with no crust or with a pastry base, but the defining flavor is almond rather than custard or dairy.

The cake is closely associated with Santiago de Compostela and the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. Its powdered-sugar decoration usually includes the cross of the Order of Santiago, the emblem that gives the dessert its instantly recognizable appearance. The cross decoration was popularized in 1924 by the Casa Mora bakery.

The dessert has medieval associations, although the first documentary evidence cited in its protected-geographic-status application dates to 1577. In 2010, the European Union granted it PGI status. Qualifying versions must be made in Galicia and contain at least 33% almonds, excluding any pastry base. It is often confused with generic Spanish almond cakes, but the Galician origin and Santiago cross are distinctive markers.