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Genoa Cake
Ingredients.
Ten ounces of Flour.
Half a pound of Butter.
Half a pound of Sugar.
Three ounces of Candied Peel.
One ounce of Pistachio Kernels.
Two ounces of Almonds.
Six ounces of Sultanas.
One teaspoonful of Baking-powder.
This is a formula rather than a full recipe: quantities only, no method, no tin size, and — notably — no eggs. Treat it as a rich butter cake in the pound-cake family and work it accordingly.
- The list is incompleteHalf a pound each of butter and sugar against ten ounces of flour is a classic creamed batter, but nothing binds or moistens it. Eggs are absent from the printed page; whether they were taken as read or simply dropped is not clear. A mixture of this size would ordinarily take four or five. Add them, or the batter will be a stiff paste.
- Weights, not cupsThe ingredients are given by weight (only the baking powder is measured by spoon) and should stay that way: 10 oz flour (285 g), 8 oz butter (225 g), 8 oz sugar (225 g), 6 oz sultanas (170 g), 3 oz candied peel (85 g), 2 oz almonds (55 g), 1 oz pistachios (30 g).
- Method implied by the orderMethod -- the page gives none. Cream the butter and sugar until pale, beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the flour sifted with the baking powder, and lastly the fruit and nuts. Overworking after the flour goes in toughens a cake this rich in butter.
- OvenA cake of this size wants a slow-to-moderate oven, 325F (160C), for about an hour and a half. The high butter and sugar content browns early, so cover the top loosely with paper or foil once it has colour.
- TinNo size is given. The quantities suit a 7-inch round or a 2 lb loaf tin, lined with buttered paper on base and sides — essential, as fruit cakes of this richness stick and scorch.
- NutsBlanch and skin the almonds and pistachios in hot water; the pistachios are there for their green colour, so skin them while warm and split rather than chop, or the colour disappears into the crumb. Some almonds are traditionally split and laid over the top before baking.
- Candied peelPeel of this period was commonly sold as whole candied halves of citron, lemon and orange, cut up by the cook. Modern chopped mixed peel is finer and sweeter; buy whole peel and dice it yourself if you want visible chunks.
- Yield and keepingAbout twelve to sixteen slices. Like most butter-and-fruit cakes it improves after a day or two wrapped closely, and will keep a week.
Genoa cake is a British confection rather than an Italian one, and it is not the same thing as Genoese or Génoise sponge — the name is generally traced to the Ligurian port's long trade in candied citron, dried fruit and nuts, the ingredients that define it. By the late nineteenth century "Genoa" on a cake label had come to mean a plain butter cake carrying sultanas and mixed peel, often with almonds strewn on top and pistachios worked through for colour; it sat in the pastry cook's repertoire a step below the heavily spiced and brandied wedding or Christmas cake.