🇲🇹 Maltese Recipes

Traditional Mediterranean Cuisine

Torta ta' San Martin (Maltese Fruit and Nut Cake)

A dense Maltese November cake packed with dates, dried figs, walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. This version has no pastry crust.

Prep: 30 minutes (plus cooling) Cook: 45 minutes Servings: 10-12 slices
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Watercolour illustration of St Martin fruit and nut cake with a cut slice showing dates, figs and nuts.

Ingredients

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Measures: 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1 tsp = 5ml. For local ingredient names and substitutions, see our guide to Maltese ingredients abroad.

Instructions

  1. Prepare: Heat the oven to 170°C (fan 150°C). Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Chop the nuts and fruit into small pieces, keeping some texture.
  2. Mix: Whisk yolks with sugar until lighter. Stir in milk and orange zest. Mix flour, baking powder and spices, then fold into the yolks with the nuts, dates, figs, sultanas and peel. It will be thick.
  3. Add the whites: In a clean bowl whisk egg whites to firm peaks. Stir a spoonful into the fruit mixture to loosen, then fold in the rest gently until combined.
  4. Bake: Spoon into the tin, level and decorate with whole almonds. Bake for 35-45 minutes until set and a skewer through the crumb has no wet batter. Cover loosely if the nuts brown too quickly. Cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then carefully transfer to a rack and cool fully before slicing.

Fruit and Nuts, Rather Than Pastry

Use soft dates and dried figs, removing any hard stems. A few larger nut pieces give texture, but very large chunks make slicing difficult. The small amount of cake mixture holds the fruit and nuts together.

Serving and Keeping

Cool completely and cut modest slices with a sharp knife. Keep covered in a cool place for up to two days, or freeze slices for longer keeping. Serve with coffee and the St Martin sweet buns.

Explore the feast alongside other seasonal dishes in the autumn collection.

At the Maltese table

Nuts and dried fruit connect this cake with the November feast of St Martin. Maltese versions differ: some use a pastry case, while others are cakes bound with egg and a small amount of flour. This one is made without pastry.