Source: FOSS Cooking (community recipes)
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is pale and voluminous — this takes 4–5 minutes by hand, 2–3 with an electric mixer. You're incorporating air and causing the sugar crystals to cut into the egg proteins, which traps bubbles and gives the cake its characteristic sponge structure. Stop when the mixture leaves a ribbon trail across the bowl when you lift the whisk.
Fold in the almond meal, cinnamon, salt, lemon zest, and clementine zest using a folding technique — cut down through the centre of the bowl with a rubber spatula, sweep across the bottom, then turn the spatula up and over the top. Rotate the bowl a quarter-turn and repeat until no streaks of dry almond remain. This preserves the air you've just built into the eggs. Overworking the batter will collapse the foam and tighten the crumb.
Pour into an 18 cm springform pan lined with baking parchment (butter and flour work, but parchment is more reliable). Bake at 180°C for 35–40 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the surface is a deep golden brown. The edges should begin to pull slightly from the sides of the pan. Because almond-based cakes are denser than wheat flour cakes, they don't rise dramatically — if the top looks pale after 35 minutes, it needs longer, not higher heat.
Cool completely in the tin before turning out. The residual heat finishes the cooking and allows the crumb to set without cracking. This is not optional — a warm cake will shatter when you dust it.
Place a Santiago cross stencil (the symbol of Saint James: two crossed swords with a scallop shell) on top of the cake and dust generously with icing-sugar. Lift the stencil straight up — any sideways motion will blur the lines. The contrast between the white cross and the dark cake is the whole point. Slice with a hot, dry knife, wiping between cuts.
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