Genoa Cake
Genoa Cake, full of currants, sultanas, mixed peel, cherries and flavoured with almond and lemon, is a real treat. Based on an Italian yeasted Christmas bake, the British version is a wonderful cake to enjoy at any time of year. Even for novice bakers, it not difficult to make at home.
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Genoa Cake
As you’d expect from the name, Genoa Cake originated in Italy. There, pandolce is a rich, yeasted cake traditionally eaten at Christmas. But the version known and loved here in Britain is a much simpler affair. Made with a light batter, the moist, tender cake is studded with dried fruit including (the best bit for many people) cherries.
While the Italian original normally contains pine nuts, in our Genoa Cake almonds are the dominant flavour. Besides a top decorated with blanched halved or whole almonds, there’s usually almond extract and chopped nuts in the mix too.
My Genoa Cake
I’m certainly no expert when it comes to baking sweet treats. Savoury foods are more my bag. But I do like a bit of cake at the weekend. If you’re also only an occasional cake maker, I think you’ll get good results with this recipe.
I’ve recently got into the habit of making all sorts of cakes in loaf tins. As there’s only two of us, it makes just the right amount for eating over three days. My tin is approximately 21.5 cm long, 11 cm wide and 6 cm deep.
If you want to use a different shaped tin, then use one with a capacity of around 1100 ml. Otherwise, you’ll need to adust the amounts shown in the recipe at the end of this post.
I’ve also become a fan of non stick cake tin liners. They’re so much easier than faffing about cutting bits of greaseproof paper to fit and getting them to stay in place.
TIPS FOR A PERFECT GENOA CAKE
While Genoa Cake is simple enough for even novice bakers, there’s a couple of things to be aware of.
Unlike heavier fruit cakes, the batter is quite light. So, to stop the generous amount of fruit sinking to the bottom before the cake is done, use a little of the measured flour to coat the dried fruit. You could also reduce the amount of milk. The thicker batter should then keep the fruit better suspended. The downside is that the cake could end up being not quite so light.
As with all cakes, try not to sneak a peek too soon while it’s cooking. If you do, your cake may collapse.
But, other than those points, it should be easy enough.
LIGHT, DELICATELY FLAVOURED
Whether you make Genoa Cake as a lighter alternative to Christmas cake, to enjoy with a cuppa or as part of afternoon tea, I think you’ll love it.
With lots of fruit, the delicate flavour of almond and lemon in a moist tender crumb, I don’t think you’ll find a better fruit cake.
HAVE YOU MADE GENOA CAKE?
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NEW: ALL THE FLAVOUR OF GENOA CAKE IN A FRACTION OF THE TIME
Genoa Cake
Genoa Cake, full of currants, sultanas, mixed peel, cherries and flavoured with almond and lemon, is a real treat. Even for novice bakers, it not difficult to make at home.
Ingredients
- 70 g currants
- 70 g sultanas
- 70 g mixed peel
- 60 g glace cherries chopped
- 20 g chopped almonds
- 1 lemon zest only, finely grated
- 150 g self raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 120 g butter softened
- 120 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tbsp milk
- 40 g blanched almonds, whole or halved to decorate
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 150C / 130C fan / Gas 2
Put a paper liner in a loaf tin approx 21 x 11 x 6 cm or line it with greaseproof or baking paper.
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Put the currants, sultanas, mixed peel, cherries, chopped almonds and lemon zest in a bowl and stir in a little of the measured flour to stop them sticking together. Set aside.
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Sift the rest of the flour with the salt then set aside.
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In a large bowl and preferably using electric beaters, beat together the butter, sugar and almond extract until soft and light.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary during this and subsequent steps.
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Beat in the eggs one at a time along with 1 tbsp of the measured flour each time.
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Beat in the milk a tablespoon at a time with another scant tablespoon of the measured flour each time.
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Gently fold in the rest of the flour along with the dried fruit mixture until everything is just combined.
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Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top.
Cover the top with blanched almonds.
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Put the tin in the oven and bake until a skewer comes out clean: approx 55-65 minutes.
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Put the tin on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.
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Take the cake, in its liner, out of the tin and leave until completely cold.
Remove the paper when cold, slice and serve.
Cake should keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
Recipe updated December 2021
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Love this, especially the fact that all 3 of my little boys heartily enjoyed it! I found this recipe after a friend mentioned she liked Genoa cake. I’m not familiar with it and didn’t know what to expect; I thought the cake was slightly oily in appearance when cut, and wanted to check this is normal for this recipe/ Genoa cake. Or perhaps I did something wrong–any suggestions?
Hi, that’s great that everyone enjoyed the cake!
It shouldn’t be oily though. If you definitely put the right amount of butter in, then it’s possible that the butter was too warm (or even too cold) so didn’t combine properly with the other ingredients.
What a very tasty cake this is!
Due to family allergies I had to leave out the almonds but it was still absolutely delicious.
Thank you for the recipe. Half the cake has already been eaten and I’ve already been asked to make another one. It’s a winner!
That’s great to hear, Helen! I love it when people enjoy this cake as it’s one of my favourites!
I made this two days ago and its become the family’s new favourite. I’m about to make another one to give as a Christmas present. Thank you for another delicious and easy, recipe!
Thank you, Sadhana. Glad the family enjoyed it and hope the lucky recipients of your Christmas present do!
Made this again this year, its a yearly tradition now. Delicious and easy recipe!
Thank you! Makes me so happy that my Genoa Cake has become part of your annual tradition ☺️.
I love making this cake so easy but full of flavour, i made some for our local fete and they where sold in a flash with only postive feedback all saying how good the cake was , that thanks to moorland eaters,Many thanks for another great recipe
Thank you for your lovely comments, Bryan. So glad everyone enjoyed the cake, it’s still one of my favourites!
This is one of the nicest Genoa cake recipes I have come across. I used a non dairy alternative for the butter and milk so increased the flour by about 15g, it cooked in 65 mins was light, fluffy and bloomin’ gorgeous. Thank you very much.
What lovely feedback on one of my favourite recipes! Thanks so much Nicola – glad you enjoyed it.
Five stars and haven’t started yet but your recipe. Is decidedly the best I’ve found for a cherry genoa. About to begin. Just needed to say the size tin you describe is 2lb loaf tin not a 1lb one. I do use both sizes and they are marked one pound and two pound.
Hi Marilyn, many thanks for your kind comments!
You’re completely correct about the tin size and I’ve amended the blog text and recipe accordingly so thank you for that. Since writing my Genoa Cake recipe back in 2019 I’ve used 1lb loaf tins for recipes such as Cheese & Walnut Loaf and Baked Banana Sponge Pudding and they are definitely not the same. Thanks again!
Tried this recipe out yesterday on the spur of the moment. Fruit-wise I only had raisins in the cupboard, glacé cherries and flaked almonds. No mixed peel. I used up the glacé cherries and raisins to compensate, and orange zest because I had no lemons. I used dark soft sugar instead of caster. We cut some for supper after it had cooled down and although it was crumbly it was delicious. My son boxed it and put in the fridge overnight. It has firmed up nicely and is just as delicious, I’m looking forward to doing another with the mixed peel and lemon zest.
Thank you for your lovely feedback Georgina!
I did do the recipe again, this time with all the listed ingredients. I made a double quantity -one to take to my daughter’s, the other as a thank you to a friend for a favour. We managed to have a slice each with a cuppa before returning home from our daughter’s leaving the rest of the cake behind. I had taken them out of the oven a tad too soon, and they did both deflate somewhat when I inserted a skewer. I put them back in for another 5 or 10 mins. But the dents in the middle didn’t affect the flavour and both cakes were declared delicious.
I have put another two in the oven this afternoon. For us! I used light soft brown sugar this time just to see. I’ll make sure I leave them in for the full 70mins.
Thank you for more lovely feedback, Georgina! Glad to hear the cakes were declared delicious ☺️
going to bake this at the weekend but we dont like peel or cherries, could i just used lemon and orange zest instead of peel if so how much, any ideas. thankyou.
Hi Ian,
I think I would just replace the peel and cherries with more of the other dried fruits. Adding more lemon zest plus orange zest would, I think, take this too far in a citrussy direction and overwhelm the lovely almond flavour.
Funnily enough, I always used to substitute something else for peel as I didn’t like it, but now I love it!
Hope you enjoy the cake!
will do as you say but will add the zest of 1 orange as well and let you know how i get on, many thanks 4 such a speedy reply., i love peel but the rest of the family dont worse luck, am in a good mind to add the peel cut it very fine so they dont know its there.
Go on: cook’s privilege! 😄
just to let you know i followed you’re recipe to the t and it was stunning even the family loved it and they don’t peel.
Fantastic!
For the third time this lovely tasting cake has sunk in the middle! Last time I thought it was me opening the oven after an hour so today I left it for 75 mins but it had already sunk again. My oven is new so temperature should be ok and this is the only cake I make that does this! Help please.
Sorry to hear Liz that your cake sank in the middle and you felt it only rated one star despite it tasting lovely.
It is a bit of a puzzler as it’s not a problem anyone else has reported and you seem confidant it’s not your oven temperature that’s off.
As you didn’t open the door too early, the other main contender is that you may be over-mixing. If you incorporate too much air then the cake will quickly rise and then collapse in the oven. So, make sure you follow the advice at instruction step 7 to gently fold in the rest of the flour, the dried fruit and chopped almonds until everything is just combined.
You should also put the tin in the oven as soon as you can after the batter’s mixed as the raising agent in the flour will already be reacting with the liquid: so try not to take too long placing the blanched almonds on top.
One final thought: different flours absorb different amounts of liquid and perhaps yours doesn’t require all (or even any) of the milk to be added.
Hope these tips help and many thanks for persisting with my recipe!
Thanks for your tips and it is a bit of a puzzle as I didn’t put any milk in the last one!! I will have another go following exactly your recipe and I will test the oven temperature too. I will also buy fresh flour!
Simple recipe, easy to follow. I baked a cake for first time following this recipe and it has worked perfectly well. cake smells amazing and tastes delicious.
Thank you for your lovely feedback! So pleased that you chose my recipe to bake your first cake and that it went so well 😊
This cake is very delicious, one slice is just not enough, took a little longer baking than anticipated 90mins to be exact..Not sure where I went wrong, followed recipe to the word but my fruit sank to the bottom, still very moreish, will have to try again..🙂
I made a Genoa Cake this weekend too! It’s my favourite fruit cake.
I wonder if your oven temperature is a bit off? If you definitely coated the fruit in flour as per the recipe, it might be that your oven temperature is actually lower than it should be. This would explain why the cake took longer to cook and, as the mixture would take longer to set, the fruit could sink down the still-wet dough.
If you try the recipe again, maybe start with your oven a little hotter – at least for the first 30 minutes anyway?
Let me know how it goes!
My partners favourite cake is a Genoa Cake…..having made this recipe for him a shop bought one is no longer any good. He loves this cake. I have made it a number of times and, it has to be said, it is a lovely cake…..light and full of flavour….top marks for the recipe, thank you x
Thank you for your lovely comments, Sandi!
Tasted Wonderful !! Just love the taste of the lemon.
I made this yesterday as a special request from my husband. He loves fruit cake but we’re about to embark on a Keto diet so we wanted something a bit lighter and not a large cake.
I only had a 2lb loaf tin but it was fine although a slightly shallower cake. I tried to take it out too soon and it split almost in two (my fault completely being impatient!!). No harm done, just put it back in the tin and let it cool a bit more. Couldn’t resist having some later though and armed with a cake fork, we each had a piece for supper. I will defo make this for my family in future as an alternative to my Mum’s Christmas cake which some just love but others are not keen on rich fruit cake. They should be more than happy with this.
Not much left now …… late in the day of the Birthday …… but enough for us to have a piece for supper.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
XXX
Thank you for your lovely comments Kath. So glad you enjoyed the Genoa Cake!
I must say I’m not a fan of traditional Christmas cake and much prefer this.
Many thanks for taking the time to get in touch and give your feedback!
I had to do a lot of substituting. Margarine for butter, brown sugar not caster…… mixed chopped nuts for almonds…….. But it was absolutely delicious !!
No butter and no almonds mean the cake won’t be quite the same, but glad you enjoyed it anyway!
My husband loves genoa cake buys one every year. I’ve baked alot more this year found this recipe and said to him don’t buy one I will make you one. Made it today and he said its the best cake he has ever tasted. Thank you for this amazing recipe. 100% this will be a regular in our house xx
“Best cake he has ever tasted”: what lovely feedback, Arlene. Thank you!
So pleased the genoa cake will be a regular in your house!
Thanks so much for taking the time to get in touch.
Lynne.
love this recipe! always found shop-bought Genoa cake pretty disappointing, this is a revelation. thank you!
Thank you, Andy! I think this recipe is pretty special too, especially considering the relatively simple ingredients.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe.
Hi Lynne baked the Cherry Genoa following all your tips and recommendations and am delighted with the results! My cake rose beautifully! Have yet to sample but smells delicious – thank you!
That’s wonderful, Janet! Hope it tastes as good as it smells!
Hi Lynne just sampling with a cup of tea – delicious!
Fantastic! So pleased you like it 😊