This is a super chocolaty cake with the chickpeas adding to the texture and gooeyness. I like to make this cake as a means of sneaking a little more goodness into my dad and brother without them really knowing. The chickpeas in the cake and the cashews in the icing are still a form of plant so deliver some nutrients and extra protein. You can make this cake just by doing step 2 in the method and then chucking this chocolate mix into the food processor with everything else (so feel free to do this), but if you do these few extra steps you will have a little more washing up but a better texture cake.
Serves: 8-10 slices
Ingredients
Cake
100g dark chocolate (I use 70-80%)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (optional but it does deepen the flavour)
1 tablespoon coffee powder (this is just for flavour so feel free to use decaf)
400g can chickpeas
100ml milk (I use oat milk but any will work)
4 eggs
200g coconut sugar
100g plain or buckwheat flour
50g cacao powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Icing
150g cashews, soaked in cold water for a couple of hours
50g dark chocolate
4 tablespoons maple syrup/coconut sugar
1 tablespoon cacao powder
100ml milk (I use oat milk)
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
100g almond butter
Methods
Cake
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c
2. Melt the dark chocolate, coconut oil, blackstrap molasses and coffee powder until completely smooth. If using a pan, do this really slowly, stirring the whole time. If using a microwave, melt in 15 second intervals stirring in between so as not to burn the molasses.
3. Add the chickpeas, melted chocolate mix and milk to a food processor and blend until smooth. This may take a few minutes and it may still have a few flecks of chickpea but that fine; just adds texture!
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar for about five minutes. This should get a lot of air into them and give them a batter-like consistency.
5. After the five minutes, pour in the chocolate chickpea mix and whisk for another couple of minutes until fully combined.
6. Sift the flour, cacao powder and baking powder and add to the mix, along with the salt. Slowly fold in until all of the mix is combined and there are no pockets of flour.
7. Pour into a baking tin (roughly 23cm in diameter and 6cm deep) and place into the oven for about 35 minutes, but check after 25 minutes. You will know it’s done when it’s nicely risen and a knife comes out clean when put in the middle. Allow to cool for ten minutes in the baking tin before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Icing
1. While the cake is cooling, melt the chocolate, coconut sugar/maple syrup, cacao powder, and coconut oil with a splash of milk as we did earlier.
2. Once smooth add to a blender with the drained cashews, vanilla essence, salt and milk. Blend until completely smooth.
3. In a mixing bowl, pour in the chocolate cashew mix and add the almond butter. Whisk using an electric whisk until the mixture becomes thick and starts to form ripples. I like to use this trick to give the icing more shape without adding in icing sugar.
4. Place in the fridge until ready to ice.
Cake Assembly
1. To assemble the cake, make sure it’s completely cool and cut off the top so that it is a little more flat (I still eat this bit with some of the icing spread on top, I highly recommend you do the same).
2. Once flat, spread the icing over the top of the cake and enjoy!