chocolate raspberry {kidney bean} cake

super dark, super nutricious chocolate bean cake

I had this slice in front of me at my desk at work. It was 10am. And I ate it. All.

Got the odd look from coworkers, the “are you eating chocolate cake for breakfast?”.

Yes. Yes I am. And it’s probably more nutritious than the breakfast I ate 3 hours earlier.

super-icing: yogurt, egg whites, protein powder, dark cocoa

And that icing?

No need for the protein shake today. Just load my slice up with that super-icing.

I may have had you fooled, but I’m not actually that into healthifying things that are fine as they are. Like cake. I’m happy to enjoy cake exactly as it is.

But sometimes, cake for breakfast is just fun. And cake with an icing that is so darn nutritious it is recommended you have it frequently is even more fun.

On top of that, I have been dying to see if beans, in replacement for oil and butter, works just as well in cake as it does in brownie. And it did. This cake, the tower that it is, has a light and almost puffy texture, not fudgy like brownie, but… cakey.

Conclusion: Beans are wonderful. Beans work in brownie, beans work in cookies and, voila, beans work in cake.

the healthiest cake alive

Chocolate Bean Bundt Cake
Recipe adapted from Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake at The Healthy Foodie
Serves 12

This cake is not sweet. It’s definitely not a ‘serve to your sweet-toothed beloved and fool him into thinking its not super healthy’. If you prefer a sweeter bite, as I normally do, up the sweetener of choice to 1 cup. Jesse and I have been steadily weaning ourselves off the cloyingly sweet treats we found we were addicted too, and now both find we very much enjoy the subtlety of this cake. Of course you could also double the icing, a move I think I’d make next time.

Cake
1 1/5 cups cooked, drained kidney beans (I’m sure black beans would work here too)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup maple syrup (or agave, honey, date paste – whatever sweetener you prefer)
1 cup buttermilk (or use milk with a dash of vinegar/lemon juice)
2 eggs
½ cup egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups wholewheat flour (or sub in finely ground oat flour or spelt)
¾ cup dark cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup berries, fresh or frozen (raspberries work a treat with the dark chocolate)

Icing
1 Tbsp maple syrup
¼ cup yogurt
3 tbsp pasteurized egg whites
2 scoops vanilla flavored whey protein powder
2 scoops plain whey protein powder
¼ cup cocoa powder

Garnish
dark chocolate(85%), grated (use a vegetable peeler to get the curls)

Preheat the oven to 375˚F and coat a Bundt cake pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk together.

In the bowl of your food processor, combine wet ingredients and process until smooth.

Pour the wet-beany mix into the flour mix and stir until well combined. Fold through berries. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Time will depend on size of cake pan used. My cake took about 50 minutes being so deep. Keep an eye on it and use a cake tester to check for doneness.)

Cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely. Prepare the icing.

the healthiest cake alive

Whisk together maple syrup, yogurt and egg whites until smooth. Add cocoa powder and protein powders and mix until smooth. Whisk in a dash of warm water if too thick to pour. Pour over cooled cake and garnish with finely grated chocolate.

Store in the refrigerator. The beans will keep it moist for a number of days – I’m on to day 3 and its still incredible, especially warmed slightly and served with yogurt and fruit.

the healthiest cake alive

Here are the nutritional details that Sonia created to accompany her Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake (thanks Sonia!), the recipe upon which mine is based, with little change other than the beets being replaced with beans, and substituting the spelt flour for what is available here. I thought the nutrition in this was pretty darn impressive, considering my breakfast for years has only had around 11 grams of protein and 5 of fibre for a 300 cal serving (the protein has, however, recently jumped up to closer to 50 grams). With the replacement of beans I think the nutritional information would be fairly similar, with slightly higher protein and a little more in total calories. Not too shabby, for a rich, dark chocolate cake slathered in sweet chocolate icing huh!
with oozy raspberries throughout

7 thoughts

  1. Wow Christina, great idea using the kidney beans to add moisture to this cake. I have tried this with a brownie recipe many years ago (actually when I was living in Canada too, must be a Canadian thing) and it was pretty good. It looks so moist! Enjoy x

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