Genoa cake, known in Italian as or , is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas (golden-coloured raisins), currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar.Ingredients and nutritional analysis of commercially made Genoa Cake at Tesco supermarketGenoa Cake recipe BBC Good Food Magazine

Origins Although the name Genoa cake is mainly used in the United Kingdom, where recipes for it have been around since the 19th century,Recipe 154 in The Bread Biscuit Bakers and Sugar-Boiler's Assistant by Robert Wells (London, 1890) it is a variant of the (; , ; ) cake which originated in 16th century Genoa as a Christmas cake. Unlike Genoa cake, traditional includes pine nuts as a major ingredient and uses yeast as its raising agent, which requires several hours to rise, like bread.Gourmet Liguria This original form is today known as ('deep '), whilst a simpler variant which uses baking powder is known as ('flat ') and is essentially the same as the Genoa cake sold in the UK, with a moist but crumbly texture.Pandolce Basso Genovese Pandolce Christmas cake

The term Genoa cake is also sometimes used to refer to two other Genoa-related cakes, neither of which are fruit cakes: Genoese cake, a light sponge cake,Gourmet Britain Genoa cake recipe and pain de Gênes ('Genoa bread'), a dense almond cake.Cook's Info: Genoa Cake

See also

Cuisine of Liguria List of Italian desserts and pastries Genoese cake Pain de Gênes

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