Genoa Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)

Ingredients
- 125 gm unsalted butter or refined Oil
- 125 gm powdered sugar caster Sugar
- 3 egg beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Lemon zest grated
- 1 tbsp Orange zest grated
- 200 tutti frutti or mixed preserved fruit or candied peel, better if soaked in Rum or Brandy
- 2 tbsp Apricots dried, chopped
- 25 gm Almonds blanched
- 175 gm self raising flour 175 gms plain flour/all purpose flour/maida mixed with 2 tsp baking powder and sifted thrice
- 1 tsp spices powdered
- 60 ml Cointreau or Brandy/Rum
Toppings
- 2 tbsp jam Apricot or Strawberry best
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 handful Maraschino Cherries Coloured
- Few Pineapple slices Preserved
- 1 handful Strawberry Dried, cherry and kiwi slices
Instructions
- Heat Oven to 150°C.Prepare a loaf pan by either greasing and lining it with Parchment paper or greasing and sprinkling it with flour. You can use a baking spray as well.
- Combine the flour with the powdered mixed spice.
- Mix 1 tbsp flour with the fruit and 1 tbsp of chopped Almonds to be added in the cake. This ensures that the fruits do not sink to the bottom while baking.
- Melt the jam with the water to make a thick solution. Keep aside to cool.
- Combine the Butter/Oil and sugar and beat with an electric beater till pale and frothy. Add eggs 1 tbsp at a time beating well after each addition.
- Beat till the mixture increases to double the volume. Add the vanilla extract and lemon and orange zest. Mix well.
- Fold in the flour mixture 2 tbsp at a time till it is completely used up. Add the prepared fruits and fold again. Do not over mix.
- Spoon this mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan on a flat surface to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 60 minutes till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes and loosen the sides of the cake. Remove when completely cool.
- Pierce the surface of the cake with a toothpick and spoon on the liqueur so as to fill the holes.
- I added 1/4 portion of maraschino syrup and 1/4 portion preserved pineapple syrup to 1/2 portion of White Rum. Leave for 10 minutes.
- Brush the top with the prepared jam mixture till completely covered. Decorate with the assorted preserved fruits and Almonds.
- Cut into slices and serve with tea or punch. Refrigerate the Cake in case you want to store it for a long time. Take out 2 hours before eating!
Notes
- Bottled fruits like coloured Maraschino Cherries (stocked by Amazon and big import stores)
- Red Indian “cherries” which is actually the preserved “Keronda” fruit! Is available locally in many cities and can be bought online as well.
- You can use dried fruits like dried Kiwi, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango, Guava, Cherry and Raspberry. Crawford Market and the Masjid area nearby have plenty of stock.
- I used my own preserved Pineapple.
- Use dried Apricots which are readily available.
- Use tutti frutti or coloured and preserved Papaya easily available anywhere in India.
- I had soaked some fruit in October itself in Rum for Christmas Cake.
- I took 1/4 cup of those fruits plus I added the rest in the “mix and match” way to make up for the rest of the quantity! I have used Rum and syrup to pour into the cake later. However if you do not want to use liqueur then use the syrup from preserved Pineapple or Maraschino cherries.
- In case you do not have that either then make a thin sugar syrup and add any kind of fruit flavouring to it like Pineapple or even 1 tsp Vanilla or Rum extract.
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Recipe Nutrition
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