This is Spain's best apple tart, and it is made in Malaga

Puff pastry, apple and bakers custard. The Daza patisserie only uses three ingredients to make its apple pie, but they are so well integrated that they have earned it first prize in the III National Championship held at San Sebastián Gastronomika. As of Tuesday, the best apple tart in all of Spain is being made in Malaga, specifically in Calle Correo de Andalucía.

The tart recognised by a specialist jury is exactly the same item that Noelia Acedo has been making every day for almost 12 years. It is so apparently simple that they had never dared to enter it in a competition. "We always thought that what we were doing was too basic", said Antonio Martín, owner of the bakery together with his wife Puri Morillo.

The award-winning tart is made with an inverted puff pastry base where they mix butter with a minimum of flour to give it consistency. The great secret of the recipe is that "the apple is the main star and the puff pastry must give it a crunchy touch", added Antonio holding the prize in his hands.

The Malaga patisserie takes over from the restaurant La Carpintería (Vigo), headed by Elena Garmendia, which won last year. This year's jury was made up of journalists and professionals from the world of gastronomy.

The Malaga locals emerged as winners despite strong competition. Also participating in the final were Hotel Nobu (San Sebastián), La Raquetista en La Habana (Madrid), Krombol Bakery (Jerez de la Frontera), La Postrería de Noe (Lugo), and Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Luces (Luces, Asturias).

After collecting the prize that accredits them as winners, Antonio said he felt a mixture of happiness and disbelief. In fact, the apparent simplicity of their recipe had filled them with doubts before the jury's verdict. "I really liked the work of the others because they offered something that we didn't: lots of avant-garde, contrasts of flavours and temperatures, and that's why I was a little worried", he admitted.

He said that the apple tart entered into the national competition was exactly the same that they make at home without any changes. "The product in the shop's display case is the same as the one we present at the competitions and that we offer to the critics because what is special for us are the customers who visit us every day", he pointed out.

Less fortunate was the Hermanos Alba restaurant, also from Malaga, which was in the running for first prize in the national Russian salad championship. In this case, the first prize went to María del Carmen Bedía Berodia, from La Viña de Henao restaurant in Bilbao.

The restaurants El Txoko de Ramiro Berri (Donostia- Guipúzcoa), Tangana, Local de Ensayo (Murcia), L'Arrosseria (Cunit, Tarragona), Avrile (Santander), Hermanos Alba (Malaga), Torres Herrera, La Isla (Seville) and El Pandora (Avilés, Asturias) followed behind.