You all know those kind of cakes you just keep making over and over again. The recipe that people keep asking for and which you already know by heart. Every time you bake a new one, you go; Oh yes, thats exactly how a cake should be like. It has been the guest of honour at several birthday parties and holidays, and you have served and dressed it in all sorts of directions, but a plain moist slice always makes your heart skip a beat…okay I think you got the point by now.
This recipe is my very own all time favourite cake recipe. It’s presence in our fridge is almost as common as milk and eggs, and I kinda always feel like having just a little piece with a cup of coffee. Besides the fact that it is moist and has a rich, deep chocolate flavour, this cake is almost healthy enough to eat as a breakfast, say what??
Oh yeah, this cake is flour less, gluten-free, contains no dairy product, no added fat and has a significantly reduced sugar content, woop woop! I know you might think ‘yeah right’ this cannot taste like a real chocolate cake, but oh yeah it does. I have tested it on several almost hundreds of people, including very sceptical sugar and fat loving men….and I am proud to say that I have never experienced anybody who did not love it.
So how was this brilliant recipe brought to life. I was as many others intrigued by the fact that you could incorporate beans into a cake, anything that weird had to be tested right away. I tried all sorts of recipes, but was slightly disappointed each time. Then one day, my very dear friend and fellow foodie Nina told me about a recipe on a bean brownie that tasted exactly as a filthy good old chocolate brownie, almost too good to be true! After several adaptions including removing all fat, adjusting the amount of beans and sugar, adding and removing aroma ingredients and playing around with textures and types of chocolate, I have ended up with something that I my world fills the criteria for being the perfect chocolate cake.
First of all you just need to try the cake as it is, right now, go, RUN to the kitchen and try it now! Then next time you can try to play around with it, add shredded coconut, mint flavoured chocolate, cocoa nibs etc. The cake is SO easy to make, it’s a everything-in-a-blender kinda cake and you can even buy black beans in a can if you are feeling lazy, and wanna save yourself the trouble of soaking and boiling beans.
If you wanna have a little food-fun, bake the cake and serve it for a critical ‘health crowd’ without telling anything about the content or type of cake and see how they respond to it, people seem to be quite amazed and nobody ever guesses that beans are the main ingredients or even present in the cake.
I really hope all of you are up for a little very easy cake baking and indulging, have fun :)
Note: I am now on instagram so if you feel like it you can follow me and my small everyday food-adventures there, my insta-name is: Atastylovestory
Black bean chocolate cake
Makes 1 loaf
1 cup/240 g cooked black beans (or 1 400 g/14 oz can black beans, drained)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup/100 g sugar
3 heaping Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup/50 g dark chocolate 70%
1 tsp instant coffee or 1 espresso shot
1/2 vanilla pod, scraped
1 tsp baking powder
Juice and zest from 1/2 organic orange
A pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F/175 °C
2. In a blender combine all of the ingredients, except the dark chocolate. Blend until it is smooth and free of any lumps.
3. Pour the batter into a parchment lined loaf pan. And yes the batter is very liquid-y. Chop the dark chocolate and spread it across the surface, some of the chunks should fall into the batter or else help it with a teaspoon, in order to get chocolate inside the cake as well.
4. Bake the cake for approximately 35 min, and set a side to cool completely before removing it from the pan
Keep the cake in the fridge, up to 5 days, and it will keep moist and delicious. Serve it straight from the fridge with a dollop of sour cream or ice cream and fresh fruit. Or just eat it straight up as a snack! Enjoy…
Bonus info: If you cut the cake into 13 pieces, every piece contains 100 kcal!!!
mums…
sorry, couldn’t get the new comment thread up. Just made this yesterday. Here are the changes/additions I made:
only had 100% chocolate. I didn’t compensate by adding more sugar as most desserts are too sweet for me. IN fact, I added black pepper. Then I took some homemade thick yoghurt, ground some cloves and cinnamon, added them, the zest and juice of the other half of orange and a pinch of sugar. “Iced” the cake. And put toasted walnuts on top. Cut the cake into 16 pieces which totalled appx 10 carbs per piece. Oh I put it into a square cake pan as I had no loaf pan. Huzzahs all around. THANK YOU for this recipe!! Marlene
I am a cooking novice, but would love to try this recipe. Is there anything that can replace the “vanilla Pod” as I no idea where to find one of those, let alone cook with it. Also, how does one measure out a half a cup of dark chocolate from a chocolate bar? I told you I was a beginner… :)
Hi DNI.
You can use vanilla extract instead, just use 1 tsp, but vanilla pods are quite common, and you just cut it open with a knife and scrape out the small seeds. It is approximately 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate, equals 50 g or 1,8 oz. Good luck with the cake :)
/Josephine
Could I leave out the espresso powder?
Yes, espresso powder is just an aroma ingredient. If your are not into its easy to exclude and you can also replace it with something different e.g. liquorice or mint.
/Josephine
i’m impressed by the simplicity of this! it looks fantastic!
Thank you very much!
I looooove your dishes♥
I totally my style^^
I showed your pictures to my friends, they want me to meet you^^;; and I really want to~
I hope I can try your recipe soon^^
thank you for your kindness,, this recipe.. and this lovely cake~
Than you for your kind words and admiration :) Glad to be able to inspire you and your friends.
/Josephine
Hejsa, kagen er i ovnen – glæder mig:) Ville bare gøre dig opmærksom på en lille bitte fejl – nemlig temperaturen. Du mener 175 grader celsius, ik’? Det passer i hvert fald bedre til fahrenheit:) Lækker blog i øvrigt!
Spændende med din kage, håber den bliver god! Tusind tak fordi du gjorde mig opmærksom på fejlen, det er rettet nu :)
/Josephine
Yum! This looks just like a cake I grew up eating. I’ve made cookies similar to this with black beans, but I have not tried a cake version. Do you have any recommendations for substituting the eggs? I’m vegan and would love to try the recipe. Thanks!
Hi Jane. yes, the cookie version is good as well, though tend to be a bit more dry, so you should definitely try this cake, it is really moist. Normally (as you probably know) you’ll use 1 tbsp chia seeds with 1-2 Tbsp some liquid water, juice etc, pr egg. But since it is a flour less cake, I am not quite sure whether it will be sufficient to hold the cake together. Hmm, but you should try it, or else I can recommend you to make a truffle instead. Drop the egg and chocolate in the batter and add some shredded coconut. Use your hands to make small balls and then dip them in melted chocolate. That is vegan and yummy as well! If you try the chia version, let me know how it turns out :)
All the best from Josephine
Looks absolutely delicious! I have never thought to have combined Black beans with a chocolate cake. I would love to try it.
I’m wondering about the sweetness…does it come from the dark chocolate and orange juice? I have 60% bittersweet chocolate, but wonder if using this instead of the 70% dark chocolate would take away too much sweetness…
Hi Mary. The sweetness mainly comes from the 1/2 cup of sugar, the orange and the chocolate provides more aroma than sweetness in this recipe. Chocolate with 60 % cocoa would be fine, and even sweeter than the one with 70% :)
So sorry…for some silly reason I didn’t see the sugar listed. Can’t wait to make this weekend :)
It looks so yummy – I’ll absolutely try it :) (I’m also learning for a dietetist, so I’m very happy to find you ^^
I just made this cake today, and it is fabulous! I honestly did not expect it to taste like a real chocolate cake, but it does! Absolutely marvelous. Thank you so very much for the delightful recipe! I expect I will be making this on a regular basis.
Dear Josephine
I just made your cake and I wasn’t sure if it’s gonna work but: The cake turned out absolutely wonderful!! Can’t believe that there is no need for butter and flour!!!! Many thanks for that recipe! I had no orange so I added one tablespoon rum :)
xox from Switzerland Ramona
This is one of the most interesting recipes I’ve seen in ages. I’m going to make this this weekend when my dad and his wife who likes to eat gluten free come to town. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
You are very welcome, so glad you like it. And it is in deed a different and very gooood cake ;)
If anybody out there is interested in making this…DO IT !…this is the BEST black bean cake recipe i have tried. i have tried many black bean brownie recipes and they were just OK, but this one really is good. it actually has a cake texture. i lowered the sugar a little more by using a substitute called Z-Sweet and it still came out fabulous. 85 cals for each piece of 10 servings. i recommend using a good cocoa powder and follow the recipe…you will be amazed. it’s so good i might have to post about it soon, with props to you of course Josephine. thank you for the great recipe.
Just wondering: I do not own a loaf pan, but I could cook these as muffins (I have a muffin pan)? My bet is to lower temperature or cook for less time, but as a beginner i’m not sure. What should I do?
Hi Francois. You can easily make them as muffins instead, I would assume that they should bake for approximately 20 min at the same temperature. And 4 medium eggs would be fine :) Good luck!
All the best from Josephine
Also, 4 medium eggs instead of 3 large?
After reading all the reviews I had to run in the kitchen and make this.
I cheated and put a chocolate glaze over it, by using whipping cream and chocolate chips which you melt in a double boiler.
Thanks I love baking healthy :)
Amazing recipe! I’ve seen lots of dessert recipes with black beans, it’s time to try one! I love your cake – it looks so moist and decadent:)
Hi Josephine, I recently came across your blog after seeing you on instagram! And I am completely smitten, I love your story and your beginning to the blog!
I have been dying to make a black bean cookie/brownie/cake for months, and when I spotted this and the pictures I knew I had to try it!!
And it was…ammmmazing!! I used coconut sugar and didn’t add the chocolate bar as I used a very good raw cacao powder and I wanted to see how it tasted alone without any bump up from the chocolate, and it was divine and everything I had hoped for! I also drizzled orange juice over the top as the cake cooled!
Needless to say, it fooled all my friends!
I posted a pic on my instagram @elizabethaball, and linked to you xx
Many thanks and I’m so happy to have found your blog x
Hi Liz. I got your instagram-tag, hehe, nice move and thank you very much :) I really appreciate your kind words, it makes me so happy, and I am glad you found the blog and I look forward to hopefully inspire you with more recipes and small stories.
All the best from Josephine.
I’m in love…. The best diet treat I ever had!!!
Kære Josephine. Nu er det så på tide, at jeg får prøvet denne spændende kage, men jeg har lige et spørgsmål: Da jeg ikke har et “cup” målebæger, og ikke vil bruge dåsebønner, hvor mange gram bønner (tørede), vil du så anbefale, at jeg sætter i blød?
Tak :)
Hej Pi :)
1 cup er tilsvarende 2,5 dl, og da bønner ca suger til 2,5 gang så meget som de fylder fra start, vil jeg skyde på at ca 1 dl (100g) bønner skal sættes i blød, men sæt for en sikkerheds skyld lidt ekstra over evt 150 g :) Håber at din kage bliver rigtig lækker!
I am totally blown away by all the amazing comment to this recipe. I am so glad that you all like it, I would even say LOVE it, as much as I do! Every single comment always makes me smile, so thank you!!
Hej Josephine. tror du det er muligt at bruge kidneybønner – kan nemlig ikke få sorte bønner i nærheden af hvor jeg bor :/
Hej Camilla.
Det tror jeg godt du kan, resultatet bliver måske en smule anderledes. Men hvis du kan få fat på brune bønner, så ved jeg at de giver et resultat der ligger meget tæt op ad de sorte :)
Held og lykke, Josephine
jeg prøvede og det fungerede rigtig godt med de røde bønner :)
Thank you thank you thank you! I made this recipe this afternoon, and it is fanastic. As someone with gestational diabetes, I’ve had such a hard time finding things to satisfy my chocolate cravings. This fits with my meal plan, and is incredibly delicious.
OMG a.m.a.z.i.n.g. chocolate cake!! Made it yesterday and already planning on doing it again this week. Thank you thank you!!!
Did you use an 4 X 8 pan or 5 X 9?
Thanks,
Kirk
Hi Kirk.
I have two different loaf pans. One which is 4×8 and another which is 4×9 both of them fits this recipe :)
With all my husband’s food allergies and celiac disease, this recipe looks PERFECT! He loves junk food and I’d feel much better having him eat this than a bag of chips or box of gluten free cookies. He has an egg allergy, though. Do you think this recipe would work with the powdered egg replacer or would you recommend something else?
Hi Heather. Thats sounds like a lot of food allergy, poor guy! I have never worked with powdered egg replacer, but you should definitely give it a go. The most important thing is, that it is able to hold the cake together, since the eggs are the only thing doing this. You could also try the vegan trick with flaxseed or chia dissolved in water/juice, but still I haven’t tried it yet, maybe it is about time for me too to give it a go :) Hopefully you’ll succeed in making it husband ‘friendly’ :)
All the best from Josephine
Just curious, does the cake have a really rich chocolate flavour since there isn’t any flour? I’ve tried a brownie recipe that was flourless before and I wasn’t too pleased with the way it came out, because it was a bit too rich for my liking!
Hi Gloria.
I do think it has a rich chocolate taste, but no more than a regular chocolate cake. It is a lovely taste, and you can easily downsize the cocoa powder which is mainly the ingredient giving the characteristic flavour. And use a chocolate with a lower cocoa content e.g 56 %, which will help further to provide more sweetness and less deep chocolate flavour. Hope this was sufficient?
All the best from Josephine
Oh…my…goodness Josephine! You are a GENIUS! I followed your recipe except had to use kidney beans instead as BOTH supermarkets had run out of black beans…..but it has turned out BEAUTIFULLY!
I’m always trying healthier baked treats and my boyfriend is…well….brutally honest when he doesn’t like one of my creations. This time though, he had 3 slices in a row! He couldn’t believe it has no flour and neither can I.
Now it is sitting in the fridge, I imagine it’s going to taste even more delicious tomorrow. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Haha, that is so cool! I’m telling you this cake is a sure winner when it comes to men, I see it all the time, so glad to hear you had the same experience :)
Absolutely! I also find it funny that men (not all men of course) aren’t so good at eating or drinking things which taste very “healthy” or they simply may not like the taste or texture. I think maybe women are used to gritting their teeth and being polite, or not wanting to waste food, or simply that we know it’s good for us so we may as well eat it if we went to the trouble of making it.
I accidentally threw the dark chocolate in the blender as well -Still came out amazing!!!
I was very skeptical of this recipe as I’ve previously baked (and disliked!) black bean brownies but I was DELIGHTED with the result. Absolutely delicious! Also, I’ve made your banana pancakes at least ten times now and love them too (as does my 17 month old daughter). You have a real talent for concocting nutritious, easy and delectable recipes.
Lovely recipe! I made with about 1/3 cup espresso dark chocolate and coconut nectar instead of sugar and it is really tasty but didn’t turn out quite sweet enough, so Im serving it with a pumpkin cream cheese frosting and some vanilla orange whipped cream. Next time I will do the full 1/2c chocolate and use an orange dark chocolate to really make it about the orange. Checked it at 35 mins and by 40 it was perfectly moist and tender. Well done!
My friend and yours Mia just made a delicious black bean cake from your recipe ate the farm here in Saint Croix, USVI. It is truly divine! Thanks for the hard work of coming up with delicious healthy alternatives to favorite foods!
Hej Josefine
Nu er det endelig blevet tid til at prøve din lækre chokoladekage:)
Lige et par spørgsmål som jeg ikke helt kan finde svaret på her i blandt indlæggene.
Kan jeg bruge raw kakao uden at jeg kommer til at mangle sødme?
Jeg laver dobbeltprotion, men har kun én brødform, så hvis jeg laver den anden i en rund form, skal den så have mere/mindre tid i ovnen?
Til sidst, så har jeg kun 86% chokolade, kan det gå?
Glæder mig til det bliver min tur til at smage denne lækkerbisken! :)
Hej Nanna :) Altså du kan sagtens bruge raw kakao, det gør jeg selv. Og hvis du bruger chokolade med 86% giver det bare en mere kraftig chokolade smag, men det går ikke udover sødmen da den primært kommer fra sukkeret, man kan nemlig sagtens lave kagen uden at tilsætte chokolade hvilket stadig giver et fint resultat. Og så ville jeg altiså foreslå dig at bage den i 2 omgange og bruge den samme brødform. Bare put bagepapir i, og så lige svup den ud og lav den næste. For jeg er bange for at den ville blive for flad i en springform og ikke få en tilstrækkelig svampet konsistens. Jeg håber virkelig at du får bagt nogle lækre kager :)
Knus fra Josephine
hi would i be able to replace the sugar with splenda? im on weight watchers programme and want to point this recipe, just wondering what 100g splenda would be on the points system
Hi Fiona. I don’t know the sweetener splenda. But if it is a baked proof sugar substitute then I guess it would work just fine. I think the only solution is to try it out, and just substitute with the amount splenda that gives around the same dose of sweetness as the sugar would give.
Good luck, Josephine
LOVE this–I’ve made it several times now. I use 1/4 cup coconut sugar plus 1 1/2 TBS Truvia (can’t eat cane sugar) and since my kids hate citrus in baked goods I leave out the orange and throw in whatever fruit I have around–raspberries or blueberries taste great in this. Thank you, Josephine, for sharing this lovely recipe.
Sounds lovely Jane, and you are very welcome, it’s a pleasure to provide healthy recipes :)
I have been on the hunt for a black bean cake and LOVE the look of yours! Question: I have a small scale bundt pan (holds the same amount of batter as a loaf pan). Do you think I could bake this cake as a bundt or would it be too dense to hold shape? Thanks!!
Hi Erin. Actually it is quite the opposite, the pan you use should be deep, or at leas not too big in order to give you a moist cake. Just remember to check the cake every 5 min after about 25 min in..
Thanks! So you think that I will be okay as long as the batter fills the bundt pan to the top and I check the bake time regularly?
Yes I would guess so, I could not imagine it would be a problem :)
Hi Josephine,
I am an Australian living and working in the very west coast of Ireland, a wondefully wild place called Connemara, I worlk with an office full of lovely diverse ladies (and a couple of guys).. I stumbled upon your recipe a couple of weeks ago and it has since gone viral in the office, each week one of us so far has brought in our own version and continue to be amazed at how easy, delicious, and surprisingly guilt free your chocolate bean cake is.
As I am a type 1 diabetic I swapped the sugar for splenda and was delighted with the result, and the relatively low carb/sugar content for such a yummy treat.
So from the Pobal office in Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland a big thanks!!
Jemma
Hi Jemma. Ah, some comments really make my day. And what is better than to be influencing the caky environment of a lovely work place. I am so thrilled that you like and play with the recipe, it makes me smile big time…and I really feel like having a piece of all of your cake variations right NOW!! :)
All the best from Josephine
Hi there, this cake is awesome. I have made this several times.
I shared this recipe with a friend and ever time she has made it she says that it keeps falling when it cools. What is she doing wrong? HELP Thanks :)
Hi Diana. I have actually never experienced this with this particular cake, but my guess would be that the cake isn’t done, and therefor it falls. I would recommend her to bake it for additionally 5-10 min and see if this helps..
/Josephine
I made this today and it was so delicious! While the flavor was awesome, I couldn’t say about the texture – mine was too crumbly. Did I do anything wrong? I did it in a food processor and only pulsed it until it’s all mixed. I’ll make this again, but I’m just wondering if it I missed anything.
Hi Jessie. I normally blend the mix for approximately 2 min, until it is totally creamy and has a quite liquid texture. You could also add an extra egg, which should help it hold together. The other day I added 5 eggs due to the size of them, so that could do the trick. And remember with this better blend it an extra minute than not ;)
**I couldn’t say the same
Ohhh I see! I think I blended it for just a minute. I’ll try blending it for 2 next time. I really love this recipe, it’ll definitely be a part of my healthy, guiltless desserts. Thank you :)
Hi Josephine, This looks really good, and I totally want to make it! I have all the ingredients in the house except the dark chocolate, though! Is there something I can do to make up for it? Like add more sugar and cocoa powder, or add bits of coconut or banana or something else? Any ideas?
Thanks! I’m very excited!
Hi Liz. You actually do not need to add any extra ingredients. I have eaten it without the chocolate many times. Thats said, coconut gives a lovely extra twist, so that could be great if you like :)
Fabulous, thanks!
I ended up not making the cake as soon as I thought I would, so I had time to go get some chocolate chips.
I didn’t have any coffee, and I used lemon juice instead of orange juice, as my remaining orange had gone bad. So, I wasn’t able to follow the recipe perfectly.
And I have to say… the cake was amazing! I can’t believe how moist it was! It’s chocolatey but not sweet and cloying. And if you didn’t know beans were in it, you’d never guess!
Hi, this looks wonderful. I am making this for my mother’s birthday, which also happens to be Valentines Day so I would love to add some pop of pink. Any suggestions for a fruit topping? Thank you! :)
Some freeze dries berries could be nice :)
Hey Josephine :)
Fantastisk blog du har.
Lige et par spørgsmål til opskriften. Baking soda er det det samme som bagepulver? Jeg er lidt forvirret af, at der nogle gange står baking soda og andre gange baking powder. Og har du evt. prøvet at tilsætte valnødder? Det overvejer jeg nemlig.
Hej Mette. Jeg kan godt forstå at det virker lidt forvirrende, men der er en god forklaring. Baking powder = bagepulver og Baking soda = natron. Der er derfor en grund til at jeg skelner mellem de to, og som du måske ved har de forskellige virkninger, og det kan være en fordel at kombinere dem i en opskrift og bruge dem adskilt i andre. Håber dette er forklaring nok :) Og jeg har ikke prøvet med valnødder, men det lyder dejligt og helt sikkert som et hit!
Mange hilsner fra JOsephine
Mange tak :) Du skriver i et tidligere indlæg at man evt. kan tilsætte kokosmel. Hvor meget plejer du at bruge?
When you say “dark chocolate” do you mean bittersweet baking chocolate? Semi-sweet? Unsweetened?
Can’t wait to make it!
I normally use a bitter sweet chocolate with 70% cocoa :)
Hi Josephine,
I love the simplicity and ingredients in this recipe. I just made your cake and took it out of the oven! I only had 2 eggs so I replaced one with a flax egg. Unfortunately, the cake sunk when I took it out of the oven and just tastes of eggs? Do you know what could’ve gone wrong? Perhaps it might taste better after its been chilled?
Thanks!!
Hi Ashley.
Hmm, oh that sounds weird. I actually don’t know why the cakes sometimes sinks (I have never experienced this myself). But be sure to use baking powder and not soda. And maybe try using only eggs. And about the egg taste, I hope it is better when it is cooled down, I haven’t experienced an egg taste from the cake, maybe try adding some extra chocolate/cocoa. Hopefully it will be better next time :)
All the best from Josephine
Hello, I made this cake a few days ago and it was delicious! My boyfriend especially loved it. However, I’ve noticed you’ve changed the baking soda to baking powder – is there a reason for that? What is the difference? I thought soda was used when citric fruit juice was also present in the ingredients?
Anyway, so glad I discovered your blog, I love it!
Hi Katie.
How lovely, it’s always a hit with the men :) I have changes the baking soda to powder due to the fact that some commenters are having trouble with the cake collapsing, and then just to be bullet proof I recommend using baking powder, which always works with me. And yes the soda is for acidic ingredients, and since some people choose to use less or no orange juice, it’s better to just have the baking powder as the recommended ingredient.
All the best from Josephine
Very easy and delicious cake to make. The mixture wasn’t as runny as I expected and the cake is very dense, I suspect because I guessed the amount of beans rather than measuring! Next time I will probably cook the beans longer too as the mixture was still a bit grainy after I had blended it. I am type 1 diabetic – any thoughts on how many carbs in a slice?
I love the orangey taste, but I’m also going to try it with ginger, chilli and mint (not all at once though). Love the blog.
Thanks for this recipe, it is amazing! I made this yesterday for a friend’s birthday, and someone else turned up at the party with a very expensive chocolate truffle cake…your cake got finished and the shopbought one didn’t!
I don’t have a loaf tin so I used a pie tin instead (8″) and cooked it for 5 minutes less, and it was perfect.
Everyone commented on the orange flavour – have you tried lime? I wondered if the Mexican combination of black beans and lime would work…
Which type of sugar do you use for this recipe?
Regular cane sugar :)
Thank you :)
Hi! Since I heard it was possible to make a cake with beans Ive been looking for different recipes and I decided to make yours today, but my cake didnt turned out as yours I guess, the mixture was super dry and your recipe says it should be really liquid, but as I understood he only liquidd ingredient was the orange juice right? I use all the measures you posted. So I dont know if I should use more juicenext time? Also the cake didnt sponge at all. What could Ive been doing wrong? I think I follow the steps and use the exact ingredients. Thanks in advance.
Hi Tania. It sounds to me like you forgot the eggs?? Because the eggs are really the thing that moisten up the whole cake. I made the cake once with smaller eggs than I usually do, and I had to add in 2 extra eggs due to the size of them. Else I don’t know what could have gone wrong, cause as soon as you’ve got enough eggs, it should be liquid. Also did you remember to use 240 gram of COOKED beans? Hope you found the answer?
All the best from Josephine
Just about to try this delicious recipe. Excuse my ignorance, but, do I need instant coffee granules, or a tsp of coffee liquid?
PS
The website design is brilliant – a food lovers dream. Thank you
Hi Sally. You can both use an espresso shot or a teaspoon of instant coffee. And thank you very much for your kind words :)
I love this! I also just made it with 15 drops vanilla stevia, and about 1/3 c. honey – in place of sugar. I also used one packet of Starbucks Via for the coffee. YUM! :-) Thanks!
Hi – I saw this recipe in The Guardian (UK) and I want to make this, but no-one in my village has black beans. Is it possible to substitute butter or cannellini beans? Or even 230g rice flour (a drained 400g tin of beans yields 230g)?
The other user comments about substitutions have been helpful, but your replies are also wonderful. Thank you, I’m glad I found your blog and will return!
Hi. You can actually use almost any kind of beans (I have tried chickpeas, cannellini beans & brown beans) and those from a can are sometimes the best option. I would not choose a rice flour, it would not leave the same moist texture to the cake :) And around 230-240 grams of beans the amount does not need to be too exact. Hope this was sufficient ;)
Yes! This is an most awesome, tasty looking cake!!! Thank you for posting the recipe. I am starting a glutenfree bakery and I´m always exciting about unusual ingredients. My personal favorite is a beetroot choclate cupcake. Delicious…
I´ ll try your black beans someday and I´ll let you know. BTW how much love do I have to mix in? I want it to be spectacular :)
I am a fan already, just by looking at the pics.
Hello again – I used cannellini beans but worried about the colour of the final cake, so I added about 1 teaspoon extra cocoa powder and a bit extra dark chocolate. The resulting cake/loaf was almost too decadently fudge-y, and everyone thought it was the best chocolate cake they’d ever eaten – and even after being told the ‘secret ingredient’ could not taste any beans in it.
Note to anyone else not able to source black beans – don’t worry; as Josephine says, other beans will do. From my experience, don’t worry about lighter-coloured beans because they won’t affect the look of the final cake.
Now, off to take notes on all the other fabulous recipes here … :-)
This is exactly what I am looking for. I am trying to introduce healthier versions of “junk food” to my son’s school. I am planning on making cupcakes, do they need to be refrigerated until just before serving? Or can they sit out for an hour or two? Also, is the orange an essential ingredient or just for added flavor? I only have clementines at the moment and I would think they would be hard to zest. Thanks!
Hi Carrie. Sounds nice, they’ll be absolutely fine a couple of hours after they have been removed from the fridge – and still delicious. The orange is only to add taste, so no worries :)
Hi Josephine, I can’t wait to try your chocolate cake, the photos look amazing and I am a chocolate addict (in search of a low-fat low-sugar option though!).
Before I start, can I ask why is there such a big difference in the quantity of cooked beans (240g) and canned beans (1.400g). I was planning to use canned beans and I don’t want to get this wrong at first try!
Thank you!
Hi Fede. It is due to the fact that a can with 400 g only contains around 240 g when drained :)
Sorry, my mistake I read 1.400g (1,4kg) instead of 1 (can) 400g
It’s absolutely LOVELY, thank you Josephine :)
Yay, that’s great to hear :)
I’m going to make this cake for passover!!
I love love your blog!!!
Hello!
This recipe looks perfect for my husband’s birthday; can I replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup?
Thanks
katy
Thats great :) Yes you can easily substitute with sugar or honey, no problem. Good luck with the cake!
So I’ve made this cake many many times, but using kidney beans (due to there being no black beans available at the shops whenever I wanted to make the cake).
But today, I was able to make it with black beans. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! And I thought it was delicious with the kidney beans….but the black beans are much more dense and the texture is more “fudgey” and cakey, where the kidney beans made the texture a little rubbery. Who would’ve thought?
I am happy I discovered your blog. I am French and have been in the US for 6 years. I find the cakes too sweet here but I love cooking so your healthy recipes are inspiring. Although I don’t like American cuisine in general, I like the many alternative options offered here with many health stores and dry fruits. I will try your famous chocolate cake tonight and share it with my colleagues tomorrow. Thank you for sharing your joy of cooking and love for cakes.
The black bean chocolate cake is among my favorite recipes now. It had great success and I could not test the 5-day in fridge suggestion:)
Today I made the rasberry mueslis bars, they look really good but added 10mn cooking time. They are now cooling down….may wait until tomorrow morning to have a bite…maybe? Thanks a lot.
You are amazing for sharing this cake – I too made with kidney beans as no black beans in France. It is just gorgeous. I am going to experiment with adding black cherries in place of the chocolate to give a sort of black foret gateau type of flavour…
So glad you like it – and wow cherries do sound amazing!
I was hesitant to try this b/c I have made black bean brownies that were pretty bad. A friend gave me the recipe and I needed something for my child’s 2nd birthday that was healthier than the typical cake. This seemed perfect and the reviews were great so I gave it a try. I made about 10.5 cupcakes and used half the dark chocolate. I melted the rest of the chocolate with some coconut milk and coconut oil, and a little juice from the other half orange and used as “icing”. Everyone loved them!!!! Thank you so much!!! This is my go-to cake recipe from now on! My husband had no clue they were black bean! So good!
Absolutely amazing to hear! So glad that it has been a success with you, and that icing sounds delish!
Oh. My. God! This cake is amazing! I have tried other beancakes, buy there has always been something just a little off. This however, is everything a chocolate cake should be! I did not care for it straight out of the oven, but I put it in the fridge overnight and some kind of magic happened because the next day those beans rocked my world a little! I poured a big portion of chopped strawberrys and sugarfree chocolate ganache over it and topped it with orange zest. Mmmm!! The fact that something can taste this decadent and still be kind of healthy makes the world a better place. Seriously – thank you!! :D
Hi,
What can I do to replace to orange juice? I don’t really like the combination of OJ and Chocolate…
Thanks!
You could substitute it with another fruit juice – or leave it out. A thing I am gonna try here during summer is adding fresh berries instead – think that would be nice too. Just about 100-150 g!
Hej!
Jeg glæder mig til at prøve den! Jeg har lige et spørgsmål ang bønnerne: jeg har købt en pose uden anvisninger på forberedelser. Hvordan gjorde du med bønnerne?
I blød i 12 timer? Og hvad så?
Mvh Helene
Hejsa.
Ja, jeg lagde dem i blød natten over – og så kogte dem indtil de var dejligt møre. Det kan variere lidt i tid, men ca. 30 min vil jeg tro :)