Healthy Chocolate Chickpea Cake
This Chocolate Chickpea Cake is healthy and light, quick to make, has loads of chocolate flavour and a soft texture with decadent rich dairy free and sugar free frosting.
Servings 9 slices
Calories 280kcal
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 16 medjool dates (pitted) room temperature
- 3 medium eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 400 grams canned chickpeas, drained
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100 grams sugar free dark chocolate bar
Optional Frosting
- 2 small ripe avocados or 1 large
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup sugar free maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat fan oven to 180℃/360℉
- Melt Chocolate: Break up 100 grams sugar free dark chocolate bar and place into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds until just melted.
- Soften Dates: Add 16 medjool dates (pitted) to a bowl of hot tap water and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes until soft. Squeeze out all the water using hands.
- Blitz Ingredients: Add softened dates, melted chocolate, 2 medium ripe bananas, 3 medium eggs, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 400 grams canned chickpeas, drained, 2 teaspoons vanilla essence and 2 teaspoons baking powder to a food processor.Blitz until combined into a sticky smooth batter (may take a couple of minutes depending on the speed and power of your food processor). Don’t worry if little pieces of date are still visible in the batter as this will disappear during cooking
- Add Batter to Cake Tin: Pour batter into a square cake tin (25cm by 25cm/10 inch by 10 inch or thereabouts). Tin should be lined on the bottom and sides with baking paper (use a little spray oil to hold in place)
- Bake: Bake in a fan oven at 180℃/360℉ for 35 minutes
- Cool: Let cake cool in the tin before removing onto a wire rack (covered) to cool completely to room temperature.
- Frosting: Add 2 small ripe avocados, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder and ¼ cup sugar free maple syrup to a clean food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy. Spoon frosting over the cake and refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours
- Slice: Slice into 9 pieces and store in the fridge for 1 week.
Notes
- Cake Tin Size: I used a square metal tin (8 inch by 8 inch or 20cm by 20cm), lined with baking/parchment paper on the base and sides to prevent sticking. I like to use a little spray oil to hold the paper in place. Using a 9 inch pan will make the cake thinner. You could also use a small round cake tin around 8 inches in diametre.
- Canned Chickpeas: any brand of canned chickpeas will work. They are also called garbanzo beans in some areas. Make sure to drain the liquid and rinse them under tap water before adding to the food processor. As an alternative to canned chickpeas, you could also use canned blackbeans (drained and rinsed)
- Bananas: two medium sized ripe bananas are needed for this recipe. The bananas help to provide moisture and create a light and fluffy cake. Don’t worry about any black or brown spots on the bananas, they are ideal to use and will have the right amount of sweetness.
- Sugar Free Chocolate: Chocolate chips or a bar will work as it will be melted in the microwave and added to the cake mixture. There are many sugar free brands around these days and the one I use frequently is “Noshu” or “Natvia”.
- Sugar Free Chocolate Alternative: If unable to find sugar free chocolate, don’t use additional cocoa powder as this will dry out the cake and make it crumbly. You could leave it out or use a regular dark chocolate in the 75% to 80% range.
- Storage: This cake will stay moist and delicious for a week in the fridge, even with the frosting. Make sure to store in an air tight container. Because of the frosting, I don’t recommend keeping the frosted cake on the bench at room temperature as it wont last as long.
- Freezing: This cake with the avocado chocolate frosting freezes well so its great to make ahead. Make sure it is fully cooled before freezing. Either slice into 9 pieces or keep whole to freeze. It will last in the freezer upto 8 weeks.
Nutrition
Calories: 280kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 8g
