Just as when you learn a new word you soon hear it repeatedly. A couple of decades ago, I learned about savoury cakes and suddenly saw them everywhere. I was served a delicious cake flecked with herbs when I ordered sparkling wine in my flight from Delhi to Heathrow; had one with caramelized onions at a bistro in London; saw recipes for the cakes in French food magazines. At a cheese shop, I picked up a card and discovered an especially great-looking cake salé recipe on the back of it — it's the recipe I've been riffing off ever since.
Here's a Parisian Cocktail Snack - Goat Cheese Cake with Figs
It's exceedingly easy to make. You mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another. Stir the two together, giving the batter a couple of quick beats & turning a blind eye to thoroughness — a ragtag mixture and a measure of benevolent neglect make a tender cake that's pretty in its plainness, remarkably tasty and honestly homemade: you'll never have to race to the trash bin ahead of the doorbell.