Black Bean Chocolate Cake

This healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cake, is deliciously rich and moist and you can't taste the black beans. 

This black bean cake is full of fibre, easy to make for beginner bakers with simple ingredients.  Best of off, its naturally sweetened with no added sugar, has a little hit of coffee with thick luscious sugar free frosting. 

Checkout my Dairy Free No Added Sugar Chocolate Black Bean Brownies  and my Low Calorie Sugar Free Chocolate Cake for easy chocolate sweet treats. 

If, like me you have a slight chocolate addiction, you’ll love my Ultimate Chocolate Avocado cake with thick chocolate frosting. 

Why This Recipe Works  

• There's no flour so its perfect for sensitive tummies 
• Its sweetened with juicy plump dates like my Chocolate Date Cake 
• It's dairy free and nut free 

• That frosting is so creamy and delicious you won’t be able to stop eating it  
• Thanks to the black beans and dates its full of fibre so one slice will keep you fuller for longer 
• You can't taste the black beans at all, not even a hint! 
• It keeps longer than regular cakes made with flour, and actually gets better each day! 
• Its extra moist because of the dates and won't dry out 
• It’s a cake, but can also be served as a dessert 
• There's no weird ingredients, you can buy everything at your local supermarket 

Check out these easy Chocolate Black Bean Muffins for a lighter version!

Cake Ingredients 

There are 10 ingredients.  All pretty standard and items that you can easily buy from your supermarket.  There’s no need to make a special trip to the health food store. 

Frosting Ingredients

Note:   there is no flour in this recipe, which makes this a gluten free chocolate cake, which makes it a perfect dessert choice if you are gluten free, or even if you have a wheat intolerance. You may also want to check out this Almond Meal Chocolate Cake  or these cute flourless chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting if you prefer cakes with flour alternatives. 

Ingredient Notes 

• Black Beans:  Pre cooked canned black beans work best.  Make sure to drain off excess liquid and wash them with tap water in a strainer before using.   
• Dates:  Medjool dates are best – they big, plump, juicy and have terrific flavour, and its ideal that they be at room temperature so they blitz properly in the food processor.    Medjool dates are located in the fresh fruit and vege section of Coles and Woolworths in Australia.  Make sure you've removed the seeds from the dates before you put them into your food processor (you can buy already pitted medjool dates with seeds removed) 
• Vegetable Oil:  Alternatively any other neutral oil would work like, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil. 
• Eggs:  eggs at room temperature work best for baking.  The eggs help to bind the recipe together. 
• Coffee:  the coffee adds flavour to the cake and gives it that richness.  If you aren't a coffee drinker you can leave it out, or you could replace it with 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence. 
• Cocoa Powder:  The cocoa powder gives this cake its chocolate flavour.  I prefer to use unsweetened cocoa powder which I find in the health food aisle of Coles and Woolworths.   
• Maple Syrup:  The maple syrup is to add additional sweetness and flavour.  There are a few options here.  You can use regular Pure Maple Syrup, or Lakanto Maple Syrup (a sugar free naturally sweetened low lard/low calorie version).  I've made it with both and it doesn’t make that much difference which you use.  Using the lakanto option, will reduce the overall sugar content and calories.  If you’re not into maple syrup, you could use a natural honey.  Alternatively you could replace it with a granulated sweetener like monkfruit or stevia – it will add the sweetness, but not additional flavour. 
• Bicarbinate of soda/baking soda:  these help the cake to rise. 
• Avocados:  I love using Hass or Shepard avocados.  Whatever variety you use, make sure they are ripe.  If you don’t use ripe avocados they wont blend properly and it will be hard to get a silky smooth frosting. (It doesn't matter if the flesh has a few brown spots as you won't see that anyway once the frosting is made) 

How To Make 

Cake 

Preheat fan oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F. 

1. Add the drained black beans, pitted dates and oil together in a food processor and blitz on high until a paste is formed. 

2. Add rest of ingredients to the food processor and blitz until everything is well incorporated. 

3. Pour into a 20cm springform cake tin lined with baking paper on the bottom.  Smooth over the top of the cake with the back of a spoon.  

4. Bake for 45 minutes fan oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F.  Cake is cooked when a skewer can be inserted into the centre and it comes out clean. 
5. Cool: Once cooked, remove cake from oven, let it sit in the tin to cool for 10 minutes.  Then, release spring on tin, take cake out and place on a wire rack, over with a tea towel and let it come to room temperature.  

Frosting 

1. Scoop the flesh out of the avocados and add to food processor, along with the cocoa powder and maple syrup.  Blitz until smooth and creamy. 
2. Spoon the frosting onto cooled cake.  Store cake in fridge in an air tight container.  It will keep for upto 5 days. 

Expert Tips 

• Rinsing Black Beans  Make sure to shake out any residual water leftover from the rinsing before adding them to the food processor.  Rinsing and washing the black beans is important to remove the salt and brine form them. 
• Use Fresh Dates:  over time dates can become tough and the sugars begin to crystalise and they're just not nice.  For best results, make sure that you’re using dates that are fresh. 
• Soften your Dates:  If you keep them in the fridge, take them out  1 hour before making the recipe and sit them on the bench.  Room temperature dates blitz better than ones straight out of the fridge.  Make sure to remove the seeds from the dates as well 
• Cake Tin:  Don't forget to line the cake tin with baking paper/parchment paper to stop the cake from sticking and it makes it easier to get out.  Line the bottom and sides. 
• Let cake cool completely before frosting:  if you try to spread the frosting onto a warm cake it will slide off. 
• Storage:  Keep this cake in the fridge in an air tight container for five to six days. 
• Freezing:  You can freeze this cake without the frosting uto 3 months.  Freeze the whole cake to frost later, or skip the frosting and slice up into portions to grab and go. 
• Optional additions:  you could add ½ cup of sugar free chocolate chips if you're a die hard chocolate fan, or you could increase the amount of instant coffee added as the current amount of two tablespoons is subtle.  I wouldn’t recommend adding more than 4 tablespoons of coffee. 

Your Questions Answered 

As this cake uses black beans instead of flour, it helps keep it fresh and moist, making it a pretty darn awesome flourless chocolate cake. 

Black Bean Chocolate Cake

Kim

This healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cake, is deliciously rich and moist and you can't taste the black beans. Its dairy free, flourless, nut free, and sugar free.

4.09 from 47 votes

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Course Dessert

Cuisine Australian

Servings 12 slices

Calories 242 kcal

Ingredients

 

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For the cake

• 1 x 400g can Black beans - drained
• 2 tablespoons Pre made Instant coffee - cooled to room temp
• 12 large Medjool dates - pitted
• ¾ cup Vegetable oil
• 2 medium Eggs
• ½ cup Cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Bicarbonate of soda
• ½ cup Maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon Sea salt

For the Frosting

• 2 very ripe avocados
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder
• 6 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

 

Cake

• Preheat fan oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F. Add the drained black beans, pitted dates and oil together in a food processor and blitz on high until a paste is formed.
• Add rest of ingredients to food processor and blitz until everything is well incorporated.
• Pour into a 20cm springform cake tin lined with baking paper on the bottom. Smooth over the top of the cake with the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 45 minutes fan oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F. Cake is cooked when a skewer can be inserted into the centre and it comes out clean.
• Once cooked, remove cake from oven, let it sit in the tin to cool for 10 minutes. Then, release spring on tin, take cake out and place on a wire rack, over with a tea towel and let it come to room temperature.

Frosting

• Scoop the flesh out of the avocados and add to food processor, along with the cocoa powder and maple syrup. Blitz until smooth an creamy.
• Spoon the frosting onto cooled cake. Store cake in fridge in an air tight container. It will keep for upto 7 days.

Notes

1. Black Beans:  Pre cooked canned black beans work best.  Make sure to drain off excess liquid and wash them with tap water in a strainer before using.   
2. Dates:  Medjool dates are best – they big, plump, juicy and have terrific flavour, and its ideal that they be at room temperature so they blitz properly in the food processor.    Medjool dates are located in the fresh fruit and vege section of Coles and Woolworths in Australia.  Make sure you've removed the seeds from the dates before you put them into your food processor (you can buy already pitted medjool dates with seeds removed) 
3. Vegetable Oil:  Alternatively any other neutral oil would work like, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil. 
4. Eggs:  eggs at room temperature work best for baking.  The eggs help to bind the recipe together. 
5. Coffee:  the coffee adds flavour to the cake and gives it that richness.  If you aren't a coffee drinker you can leave it out, or you could replace it with 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence. 
   • **Extra note on making the coffee**  Make the coffee using 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder dissolved in half a cup of hot tap water.  Let the coffee come to room temp, then use 2 tablespoons of the coffee for the cake.  Discard the rest.
6. Cocoa Powder:  The cocoa powder gives this cake its chocolate flavour.  I prefer to use unsweetened cocoa powder which I find in the health food aisle of Coles and Woolworths.   
7. Maple Syrup:  The maple syrup is to add additional sweetness and flavour.  There are a few options here.  You can use regular Pure Maple Syrup, or Lakanto Maple Syrup (a sugar free naturally sweetened low lard/low calorie version).  I've made it with both and it doesn’t make that much difference which you use.  Using the lakanto option, will reduce the overall sugar content and calories.  If you’re not into maple syrup, you could use a natural honey.  Alternatively you could replace it with a granulated sweetener like monkfruit or stevia – it will add the sweetness, but not additional flavour. 
8. Bicarbinate of soda/baking soda:  these help the cake to rise. 
9. Avocados:  I love using Hass or Shepard avocados.  Whatever variety you use, make sure they are ripe.  If you don’t use ripe avocados they wont blend properly and it will be hard to get a silky smooth frosting. (It doesn't matter if the flesh has a few brown spots as you won't see that anyway once the frosting is made) 
10. Freezing:  You can freeze this cake without the frosting uto 3 months.  Freeze the whole cake to frost later, or skip the frosting and slice up into portions to grab and go. 
11. TIPS:
    • Rinsing Black Beans  Make sure to shake out any residual water leftover from the rinsing before adding them to the food processor.  Rinsing and washing the black beans is important to remove the salt and brine form them. 
    • Use Fresh Dates:  over time dates can become tough and the sugars begin to crystalise and they're just not nice.  For best results, make sure that you’re using dates that are fresh. 
    • Soften your Dates:  If you keep them in the fridge, take them out  1 hour before making the recipe and sit them on the bench.  Room temperature dates blitz better than ones straight out of the fridge.  Make sure to remove the seeds from the dates as well 

Nutrition

Calories: 242kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gFiber: 3gSugar: 15g

Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.

Keyword black bean chocolate cake

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