I have an intense driving desire to make food healthy, which is not hard when it comes to everything but desserts. And even though I can reduce the amount of oil in cakes and muffins and breads, I have never found a dessert recipe that I trust to make a cake or cookie or dessert completely oil or butter free.
I also have a sick sense of curiosity, and when I saw this recipe for flourless chocolate cake and saw that the main ingredient was garbanzo beans, I knew I had to try it. I was SHOCKED by how good it was. I actually served it for a big family Christmas dinner. But when everyone started "oohing" and "aahhing" about how good it was, I couldn't help but blurt out "it was made with garbanzo beans!" I even had a friend who detests beans taste this cake and she said she couldn't taste the beans at all. And granted, it does have a lot of melted chocolate in it, and granted that I topped it with ganache (couldn't help it-- I have very little restraint with chocolate), but still, it has no butter or oil or flour, it comes together really easily, and the cake itself tastes wonderful even without the extra frills.
Flourless chocolate cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan. Place a circle of wax paper or parchment paper in the bottom. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and heat for about 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir, until chocolate is melted.
Combine the beans and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Add the sugar and baking powder and pulse to blend. Pour in the melted and chocolate and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed to make sure all the chocolate is mixed in. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 40 minutes in preheated oven. Cool for 10-15 minutes before inverting the cake onto a serving plate. Top with powdered sugar, chocolate glaze, whipped cream or fruit. I made a quick ganache type glaze and it was wonderful. May be served warm, room temperature, or cold.
