Whole Wheat Savory Cake

The other day I saw this on Giada's cooking show, she had made a savory cheesecake and served it with crackers. The cheesecake was laced with basil and other herbs. I missed the recipe though, just caught her enjoying it with her friends. This got me thinking hmmm.. she made a savory cheesecake... maybe I can try out a savory cake. Why not? I thought I had come up with something novel and just started googling about it. To my disappointment such a cake did exist and these savory cakes were very popular in France. So my EUREKA moment was not a historical thing.. damn.

I planned to make a savory cake for dinner... sort of a risk..but if it would have been a disaster...yay pizzatime! But it did turn out pretty well and my husband gorged on it. Considering that I had made the cake on a healthier side, it was pretty good. I used whole wheat flour as the base and that was another risk because I have tried a lot of healthy whole wheat things that taste bad. My savory cake had a good texture and was flavorful.

As far as the flour is concerned one can get experimental and substitute rice flour or all purpose flour. The other ingredients will have to be adjusted accordingly, as you will get stronger flavors with refined flours. You can also get experimental with the additions to the flour, can add bell peppers, parsley or olives for different flavors. You can also add Chinese sauces like teriyaki, soy sauce and make it on the chinese side. You can also add any cooked, chopped meat like chicken , lamb, etc.

I would like to share my savory cake recipe as I made it. 

Whole Wheat Savory Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp vinegar/ lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil (set aside 2 tbsp of it in a saucepan)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 large cloves garlic minced
• 2 -3 tsp green chillies and ginger paste
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• 3 carrots grated
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease a loaf pan or any 8" cake pan you have.
• Mix together all the dry ingredients i. e. the whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a whisk, in a large bowl.
• In another bowl, beat eggs and milk together until just well blended.
• In a sauce pan, heat the 2 tbsp of olive oil and sautee onion, garlic and red bell pepper, till soft.
• Now mix the dry ingredients, egg and milk mixture and the olive oil with sauteed onion, garlic and red bell peppers in the large bowl. Do not over mix, just blend together the dry and wet ingredients without any lumps.
• Fold in the grated carrots, green chillies and ginger paste, and cilantro.
• Add the vinegar/ lemon juice and give the batter a quick whisk for few seconds.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Put the pan into the oven, in the center of the center rack.
• Bake for about an hour, keep checking after 55 minutes and remove when you feel the center is done.
• Mine took an hour to bake and I just topped some cheese on the baked cake and let it bake for an additional 5 minutes.
• After removing from the oven let it cool on a counter for 10 minutes.
• Remove the cake from pan after ten minutes and let it cool completely before you cut and serve it.
• You can saran wrap the remaining cake and pop it in the fridge and can enjoy it throughout week,  before it's gone.

We had our cake with tomato soup. You can serve it with a soup, chutney or raita of your choice.

Enjoy!!!