The Collaborative International Dictionary
Genoa cake \Gen"o*a cake\ (Cookery) A rich glazed cake, with almonds, pistachios, filberts, or other nuts; also, a rich currant cake with almonds on the top.
Wikipedia
Genoa cake (also simply Genoa) is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas, currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.
Although the name genoa cake is mainly used in the UK, it is a variant of the Pandolce cake which originated in 16th century Genoa as a Christmas cake. Unlike genoa, traditional Pandolce includes pine nuts as a major ingredient and uses yeast as its raising agent, which requires several hours to rise, like bread. 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.
The term Genoa cake is also sometimes used to refer to Génoise cake which is a light sponge cake without fruit.