Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

You’ve probably guessed that there's a certain someone in this household that LOVES chocolate, and that certain someone is not I.

This cake contains no flour, butter or refined sugar, but it has a very dark secret. The secret being that its base is made of black beans. You read correctly, black beans!

Although the original recipe states that you should allow the cake to sit for 8+ hours to develop its flavors and remove any beany flavor. I don’t like to wait, so I dug into mine as soon as it was cool and I didn’t taste any significant beany flavor. The cake was chocolatey, moist, spongy and light– similar to that of a dark chocolate mousse cake.

You can spruce up this cake by using the vegan chocolate frosting, as shown in the raw raspberry and chocolate fudge cake and serve it with a side of fresh summer berries.

GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE
Serves 6-8
Adapted from Healthy Indulgences - Healthy Chocolate Cake with a Secret

Ingredients
4 large eggs, separated
1 x 427 g (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large egg, beaten
1 T vanilla extract
6 T oil
110 g (⅓ c) honey
6 T cocoa
Pinch of salt
1 t baking powder
½ t baking soda

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Line a 20 cm (8-inch) round cake tin with parchment paper OR grease with oil/butter and coat with cocoa powder, shaking off the excess.

2. Beat the 4 egg whites until foamy and stiff, set aside.

3. In a food processor, process the beans, whole egg, four egg yolks, vanilla, oil, honey, cocoa and salt until smooth.

4. Pour the batter into a bowl, and add the baking powder and baking soda - stir well.

5. Fold in the egg whites gradually until fully incorporated, then pour into the prepared cake tin.

6. Bake at the centre of the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

7. Allow to stand in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out. Allow to sit for 8+ hours or overnight, then serve with a sprinkling of sweetened cocoa powder, or icing (confectioners) sugar. Enjoy!