Flourless Black Bean Chocolate Cake (gluten-free!)

a slice of double chocolate black bean cake on a white plate.

4.85 from 66 votes

Flourless Black Bean Chocolate Cake (gluten-free!)

Simply the best black bean cake I’ve ever tried. This fudgy, tight-crumbed, soft cake will make up for all the black bean baking failures you’ve ever had. No one will believe there's a whole can of black beans in it!

Prep Time30

Cook Time40

Course: Dessert

Servings: slices

Calories: 310kcal

Author: Erika Kwee

Ingredients

For the cake

1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed* or 1 3/4 cups cooked black beans (301g)
3/4 cup granulated sugar 150g
4 large eggs 200g
5 tbsp melted butter or oil of your choice (vegetable, canola, grapeseed, avocado, a mild olive oil or refined coconut oil all work) 70g
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp cocoa (Dutch-process preferred) 26g
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

Make the cake

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line 2 6-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
In a high speed blender or food processor, puree the beans, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until completely smooth.
Add the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda directly to the blender and blend until smooth.
Divide batter equally into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top springs back. Let cool for 5 minutes before flipping the cake onto a cooling rack. Make the frosting as the cake cools completely. (I recommend the chocolate buttercream by Sally's Baking Addiction!)

Video

Notes

*If using from-scratch black beans cooked with no salt, add 1/4 tsp kosher salt to the cake batter.

If you don't have 2 6" pans, the batter will work baked in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan. The baking temperature will likely be longer--start checking at 30 minutes for an inserted tester to come out clean with just a few crumbs/for it to spring back when you lightly press the top.

I've tested this cake with both olive oil and butter. I slightly prefer the flavor and texture of butter, but oil will achieve very similar results. Make sure to use a mild olive oil so it doesn't overpower the flavor. If you choose another oil like coconut oil, I always prefer using a refined coconut oil to remove any coconut flavor.

Adapted from here.

Nutrition