Genoa cake

Genoa cake

Genoa cake (Supermarket own-brand with few cherries)
Type	Fruit cake
Place of origin	Italy
Region or state	Genoa
Main ingredients	Sultanas/raisins, Currants, Glacé cherries, Flour, Eggs, Butter, Sugar
Food energy (per 100 g serving)	340 kcal (1424 kJ)[1]
Nutritional value (per 100 g serving)	Protein 4 g Fat 9 g Carbohydrate 59 g

Genoa cake (also simply Genoa^[2]) is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas (golden-colored raisins), currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.^{[3] [1]}

Origins[]

Although the name Genoa cake is mainly used in the UK, where recipes for it have been around since the 19th century,^[4] it is a variant of the Pandolce cake which originated in 16th century Genoa as a Christmas cake. Unlike Genoa cake, traditional Pandolce includes pine nuts as a major ingredient and uses yeast as its raising agent, which requires several hours to rise, like bread.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

The term Genoa cake is also sometimes used to refer to two other Genoa-related cakes, neither of which are fruit cakes: Génoise cake, a light sponge cake,^[8] and Pain de Gênes (Genoa bread), a dense almond cake.^[9]

See also[]

• Génoise cake (Italian sponge cake)
• Pain de Gênes (ground almond cake)
• Cuisine of Liguria
• List of Italian dishes

References[]