Genoa cake (Italian: pandolce or pandolce genovese)[2] 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.

[1][3] Although the name Genoa cake is mainly used in the United Kingdom, where recipes for it have been around since the 19th century,[4] it is a variant of the pandolce (Italian: [panˈdoltʃe]; Ligurian: pandoçe, Ligurian: [paŋˈduːse]; lit.

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 today known as pandolce alto ('deep pandolce'), whilst a simpler variant which uses baking powder is known as pandolce basso ('flat pandolce') and is essentially the same as the Genoa cake sold in the UK, with a moist but crumbly texture.

[9] Media related to Pandolce at Wikimedia Commons