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Genoa Cake is not actually from Genoa, and bears no resemblance to anything made there.

It's a cake, from the UK, made with dark or light batter, with fruit in it, and then usually topped with nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts or walnuts, and cherries, then glazed.

Some are Cherry Genoa Cakes, made with just candied cherries for fruit.

It's sold whole in stores and bakeries, and in cafes and stores wrapped in individual slices (these wrapped slices tend not to have the fancy, sticky toppings.)

Genoa Cake is not the same as Genoise or Genoa Bread. Perhaps its origins are in pain de Gênes, which is often served with a fruit confit on top, which inspired Brits to bake the fruit right in it. But this is just speculation, and worth no more than that.

Literature & Lore
Robert Wells (The Bread Biscuit Bakers and Sugar-Boiler's Assistant. London: Crosby, Lockwood and Son. Second edition, 1890) gives the following recipe (number 154 in the book) for Genoa Cake:

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 1/4 lb. of flour, 1 lb. of eggs, 2 1/2 lbs. of currants, washed and picked, 1 1/2 lb. of orange peel. Bake in a small square-edged tin. Proceed as before directed. When nicely in the tin have prepared some blanched and chopped almonds, strew them rather thickly on the top, and bake in a moderate oven.

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