Mom was visiting last week and told me about a brownie she makes with the nephews. She takes a pre-packaged browning mix and adds one can of pureed black beans. What?!?!?
She kept raving about them so I found a recipe on line and tried it. I adapted the recipe and have dubbed it “Black Bean Flourless Chocolate Cake” because the consistency is less like a brownie and more like a dense, flourless chocolate cake. You may not want to tell anyone what the secret ingredient is!
Black Bean Flourless Chocolate Cake
3 eggs
1 (15.5 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 T. canola oil
1/4 c. cocoa powder (used Swanson’s organic)
1/4 t. ground vanilla
1 pinch salt
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. white sugar
1 pkg. Starbuck’s Via
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray.
Place ingredients in order in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
Then, to make the presentation a bit more special (hey, I had to present it well —after all, it was a black bean cake!), I cut out rounds and topped each serving with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The ice cream really brought out the coffee flavor in the cake and was delicious!