3rd Anniversary Bake Along #60 Healthy Flourless & Sugarless Chocolate Cake

Wait for me, wait for me! How can I miss baking for Bake Along special edition? It's the 3rd anniversary! How time flies!
Also, the theme is something I must not miss, cos it's chocolate cake! I love many kinds of cake, but to me, chocolate cake is still ranked highest :)

Ah, so many chocolate cake recipes I have, couldn't decide which one I wanted to try when I suddenly came across this recipe
What a good chocolate cake, isn't it? No flour, no sugar. And its easy to make, too. And the first factor made me so intrigued was the use of black beans! Now, how cool is that?
And so I did....

When I saw the cake after cooling it down in the pan for 10' mins, I was expecting a brownie texture kind. But I was wrong, this is a chocolate cake. Soft, fluffy, moist. Similar to devil's food cake, if not better. It's definitely richer, more chocolaty and fudgy. Oh so good!

Unless you only like light airy chiffon kind of cake, you definitely will like this cake
And not too worry, there's NO trace of the black bean at all. Not in the texture, taste or smell. None!

One thing that I might alter a bit in the future is I will not use water and blend the beans using food processor instead. With water the cake was a little too wet for me
And I will use coconut oil instead. We'll see how it turns out
Oh, I will try the chocolate buttercream, too :)
Lastly, I will definitely make full recipe. I want tall cake! :)

So, here it is...

A slice of heaven :)

 

Nom nom nom... Next time, I make you taller, okie? LOL

 

Recipe is from Healthy Indulgences

What you need:
(I made half recipe, below is the full recipe)

1 1/2 cup cooked black beans
5 large eggs (for half recipe, I used 2 medium egg and a mixture of 1 tbsp of flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp water - wait for 5 mins before using the mixture -> a replacement for an egg)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
some water
6 tbsp unsalted butter OR 5 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (I didn't have coconut oil so I used canola)
1/2 cup honey OR 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Truvia (I used raw honey)
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (I used Valrhona)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 165degC. Prepare a 9" round pan - greased and floured (for half recipe I used 6" and I got a rather short cake, perhaps 4" would be better)
2. Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water
3. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt also water into blender and blend on high until beans are completely liquefied, and no lumps at all
4. Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder
5. In a bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter with honey until light and fluffy. Mix in the two remaining eggs, beating for a minute after each addition (Since I used canola oil which is liquid - unlike coconut oil which is paste like, I beat the egg first then added oil and honey)
6. Add in the bean mixture and continue beating. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth
7. Pour batter into the pan. Drop the pan a few times on the table to pop any air bubbles
8. Bake for 45 mins. Cake is done when the top springs back when you press on it
9. Remove cake to a cooling rack to cool for 10 mins. Turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to cooling rack
10. This cake is claimed to be at the best flavour after kept overnight

The original recipe halved the cake and spread chocolate buttercream in between as well as the top of the cake (it's a healthier chocolate buttercream recipe!)
(I halved the cake and spread Nutella instead and sprinkled the top of the cake with icing sugar - these two made the cake not so healthy anymore LOL)

 

 

This post is for Bake Along #60, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BAKE ALONG! MANY MORE BAKES TO COME :)