Black Bean Chocolate Cake

Yes, you heard that correctly.  Sugar-free and flour-free chocolate cake made using black beans.  And it's delicious.  Seriously. 

I was browsing Pinterest when I came across a pin of a scrumptious looking slice of chocolate cake made using black beans and NO SUGAR and NO FLOUR!  Now, that's something you don't see every day.  On the recipe the girl swears that it's yummy and that you can't tell it's made of black beans.  Pshh, yeah right.  I had all the ingredients (except one) so I tried out the recipe the very next day. 

Let me tell you, she was right!  It was absolutely delicious.  Does it taste like chocolate cake from a box or a bakery?  Absolutely not.  But does it taste like black beans?  Absolutely not.  I would say it's a bit more cheesecake-y in consistency, in that it's more dense than sponge-like.  Very rich, but very good. 

 I used:

black beans

eggs

honey

sea salt

vanilla extract

butter

baking powder

baking soda

cocoa powder

coconut milk

*powdered sugar (She doesn't call for this. This is the ingredient I substituted in.)

That's it!!

It's ridiculously easy.  I served it to 6 people without letting them in on a thing- naturally, and they all thought it was yummy!  So, 6 people ate this cake (including my 5 year old) and no one could believe it was made of black beans when I told them.   

Here's the cake before frosting.

The only problems I found were one:  that I didn't have the xylitol that the recipe called for to make the frosting, so I substituted regular powdered sugar, and the frosting tasted sugar free (if you know what I mean).  I know it makes no sense, being that this is the part of the cake I had to cheat on and use real sugar, but for some reason the frosting had that aspartame-y taste.  It was very fluffy and and lovely consistency, I think had I used the xylitol, or even a stevia powder, it would have tasted better. 



And two: The original recipe calls for sprinking cocoa powder all over the pan, and laying down parchment paper before pouring in the batter.  I found that the areas where I had sprinkled the cocoa powder actually caused the cake to stick to the pan.  I think next time I would just grease the pan.  I'll probably still put the parchment paper down, just in case, but I don't think I'll add the cocoa powder.

Here's my version:

1 can of black beans (15 oz)

5 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 tbsp cocoa powder

Preheat over to 325 degrees, and grease a 9 inch round cake pan.

Cut a round of parchment paper to place on the bottom of the pan and then grease that as well.

Toss rinsed, drained beans with 3 eggs, vanilla, and salt in a food processor and process until completely smooth/liquid. 

In a bowl, beat the butter and honey until smooth and fluffy, then beat in the last 2 eggs.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. 

Pour the bean mixture into the bowl containing the butter/honey/egg mixture and mix.

Stir in the cocoa powder mixture and beat until smooth.

Pour batter into the cake pan, rap on the counter to remove air bubbles, and place in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

The cake will be done when it's firm to the touch and a bit rounded in the center. 

Tip it onto a cooling rack 10-15 min after removing from the oven.

Frost immediately before serving. 

Since I was lacking xylitol and didn't care for my powdered sugar version of the frosting, you should FOLLOW THIS LINK to the original version of the recipe for the frosting. 

Let me know if you try it, how you liked it, and any modifications you made (especially with the frosting)! 

Special thanks to Live Renewed for choosing this recipe as the featured post for the Your Green Resource Pinterest Board!

*You can find this post and other ideas at: