Genoa cake

Genoa cake (also simply Genoa) is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas, currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.

Although the name genoa cake is mainly used in the UK, it is a variant of the Pandolce cake which originated in 16th century Genoa as a Christmas cake. Unlike genoa, traditional Pandolce includes pine nuts as a major ingredient and uses yeast as its raising agent, which requires several hours to rise, like bread. This original form is now known as Pandolce Alto, whilst a simpler variant which uses baking powder is known as Pandolce basso and is essentially the same as the genoa cake sold in the UK, with a moist but crumbly texture.