Pain de Gênes
Pain de Gênes is a French almond cake with a very high almond content, giving a dense moist crumb and a pronounced nutty flavour. The name translates as "bread of Genoa".
The base is almond paste or marzipan, beaten with eggs until light. Wheat flour is minimal, sometimes replaced partly or wholly with starch: gluten here only works against tenderness.
The critical technical point is adding the eggs gradually. They go in one at a time, each fully incorporated: added all at once, the almond paste will not disperse and leaves lumps that cannot be broken up later.
The mould is traditionally lined with flaked almonds, which toast during baking and form a decorative surface.
Legend ties the cake to the siege of Genoa in 1800, when the defenders lived largely on almonds. The modern recipe is credited to the Parisian pastry cook Fauvel, working in the early nineteenth century.