Looking forward to the fall and cool weahther. This summer Japan is having it's worst heat wave in years. I'm in the kitchen baking and it is 36 degrees Celsius/98 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The air conditioner is competing with the oven and I am spending most of the day drinking iced coffee.

The food spread was for a photo shoot with Ginger magazine (Japanese only). Since the shoot will be for the October edition of the magazine, I wanted to bake something to fit the season of the magazine instead of the current hot sticky one. Thus, the pumpkins and sweet potatoes. 

For the photo shoot, myself and several guests made the sweet potato pie and then we enjoyed a light lunch together. Of course dessert included the pie and the seasonal pumpkin mousse cake. 

In the upper right corner of the photo is a savoury caked baked in a regular pound cake pan. This is a 'go to' recipe for me for light lunches. This cake is not sweet but is made with flour, eggs, olive oil and savoury items such as black olives, bacon, vegetables like zucchini, minced carrots, etc. Pair this with a hearty soup and a salad and you have the perfect lunch.

Cake Salé Recipe

150 grams flour

3 eggs

50 grams olive oil

150 grams milk

8 grams baking powder

1 teaspoon basil paste

30 black olives chopped

50 grams diced ham

50 grams cooked & chopped vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, etc.

20 grams powdered cheese such as Parmesan

1. Prepare a pound cake pan by lightly coating with butter and flour.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix the eggs, milk, olive oil and basil paste together with a small whisk. Add the  flour in portions and continue to mix with the whisk.

4. Lastly, add the olives, ham, vegetables and powdered cheese.

5. Pour into the mixture into the pound cake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 - 35 minutes. Test if completely baked by inserting a tooth pick.

6. After removing from the oven let sit in the pan for about 10 minutes and then remove it to cool completely.