It was Wilhelmina’s 1st birthday a few days ago and we needed a cake!

Because she reacted to Gluten we are keeping her diet Gluten free for now, which means that I needed to keep our usual cake recipes in the binder and find an alternative.

Black bean cake

I never would have thought that Black Beans would work so well in a cake! It was chocolatey, it was moist… it was delicious and I would never had guessed there was no flour in it!

so you need…

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed) (540ml/19 fl oz)
5 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter or extra virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup Demerara (or brown) sugar
6 tbsp cocoa  powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9″ cake pan and dust with cocoa.

Place the beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt into blender or food processor. Process or blend on high until beans are completely liquified.

In a small bowl, Mix together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a larger bowl, beat butter/coconut oil until light and fluffy. Add the remaining two eggs, beating well after each one. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder mixture and water  and beat the batter on high for one minute until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when the top is rounded and firm to the touch.

Instead of making frosting, I waited until the cake was cool and then sprinkled some powdered sugar on top and then made a side of chocolate whipped cream.

Going... going... gone

all done??