A génoise (, , ; usually spelled genoise in English), also known as Genoese cake or Genovese cake, is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during ...

named after the city of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and associated with French cuisine. Instead of using chemical

leavening In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An altern ...

, air is suspended in the batter during mixing to provide volume. Genoise should not be confused with ''

pain de Gênes ''Pain de Gênes'' () is a cake made largely from almond paste, eggs and melted butter, but only a minimal amount of flour. Another unusual aspect is that no raising agent is used, instead the rise is achieved by whisking the butter and eggs. I ...

'' (), which is made from

almond paste Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities, with small amounts of cooking oil, eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder. It is similar to marzipan, with a coarser texture. Almond paste is used a ...

, but it is similar to ' (). It is a whole-egg cake, unlike some other sponge cakes for which yolks and whites are beaten separately, such as

Pão de Ló ''Pão de Ló'' (plural: ''pães de ló'') is a Portuguese cuisine, Portuguese sponge cake made of eggs as food, eggs, sugar, and wheat flour. Unlike other cakes or breads, yeast or baking powder is generally not used. Rather, to provide volume, a ...

. The eggs, and sometimes extra yolks, are beaten with sugar and heated at the same time, using a

bain-marie A bain-marie ( , ), also known as a water bath or double boiler, a type of heated bath, is a piece of equipment used in science, Industry (manufacturing), industry, and cooking to heat materials gently or to keep materials warm over a period of ...

or flame, to a stage known to patissiers as the "ribbon stage". A genoise is generally a fairly lean cake, getting most of its fat from egg yolks, but some recipes also add in melted butter before baking.

Use and preparation

Genoise is a basic building block of much French

pâtisserie A (), patisserie in French or pastry shop in English, is a type of bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets. In French language, French, the word ''pâtisserie'' also denotes a pastry as well as pastry-making. While the making and selli ...

and is used for making several different types of cake. The batter usually is baked to form a thin sheet. An 1884 cookbook gives a simple recipe for a genoise: When finished baking, the sheet is rolled while still warm (to make jelly rolls or '' bûches de Noël''), or cut and stacked into multiple layers or line a mold to be filled with a frozen dessert. A variety of fillings are used, such as jelly,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

, fruit,

pastry cream Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from ...

, and

whipped cream Whipped cream, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...

. The genoise can be piped in strips to make ladyfingers or into molds to make madeleines. It is the base for

Jaffa Cakes Jaffa Cakes are a cake introduced by McVitie and Price in the UK in 1927 and named after Jaffa oranges. In their most common form, Jaffa cakes are circular, in diameter, and have three layers: a Genoise sponge base, a layer of orange-flavo ...

. The cake is notable for its elastic and somewhat dry texture and is sometimes soaked with flavored syrups or

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

s and often served with a

buttercream Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing (food), icing or butter frosting, is used for either filling (cooking), filling, coating or cake decorating, decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar. Buttercream is ...

frosting. The popular

tiramisu Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries () dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and mascarpone, and topped with cocoa powder. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and ...

cake may be made with ladyfingers or a genoise sheet. A chocolate genoise can be made by substituting

cocoa powder Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the ...

for some of the flour, and is sometimes used as a substitute for the richer cake used in the standard

Sachertorte Sachertorte ( , ; ) is a chocolate sponge cake covered with chocolate glaze, with an interior layer of apricot jam either under the glaze or in the middle of two sponge layers. The cake was invented by Franz Sacher, either in 1832 for Aus ...

recipe.

Use and preparation

See also

References

Further reading