Carter's Black Bean Chocolate Birthday Cake

My son just turned three years old last week. For his birthday I made a delicious and nutritious chocolate birthday cake guaranteed to minimize the dreaded sugar crash that so often accompanies the typical sugary laden cakes. All of you with children out there, you know what I’m talking about.:) The recipe is adapted from one of my favorite food blogs, Healthy Indulgences. The recipe for the frosting is a basic vegan butter cream frosting. If I wouldn’t have spilled the beans, about the beans, (pun intended) not one person would have guessed there were black beans in it. The Kids loved it, the adults loved it and being packed with protein and fiber takes away any guilt that you might feel normally after eating cake. The recipe makes enough for one 9" layer cake. I tripled the recipe and was able to make a small two tiered cake and 8 cupcakes. I found this recipe when we were on the South Beach Diet, trying to stay low carb and satisfy a sweet tooth. If you are on a low carb diet, and want to cut your carbs even more, you can use 1.5 cups of canned soybeans instead. Enjoy!

For the Cake:


Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup honey + 1 teaspoon pure Stevia extract
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
*Spray a 9" cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray
*Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. This helps it from sticking and easier clean up.
*Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.
*Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake them a bit to dry.
*Place the beans, 3 of the eggs, stevia, vanilla and salt into blender.
*Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied.
*Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
*Beat butter with honey until fluffy. Add remaining two eggs.
*Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix.
*Lastly, stir in cocoa powder and Mix till its nice and smooth, you can use a hand mixer or mix by hand. I prefer to use the hand mixer.
*Pour the batter into pan. Grip pan by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to get out any air bubbles.
*Bake for 40-45 minutes.
*Cake is done when the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night.


For the Frosting:

Ingredients:
*1 cup soft vegan margarine
*1 lb powdered sugar
*2 tsp vanilla
*3 tablespoons almond milk or other milk substitute

Preparation:
*Mix all  ingredients together until creamy and smooth.
*Cover and refrigerate until needed.
*Makes two cups of frosting
*Note: If you are not making a birthday cake and don't want all the sugar that the frosting comes with, the cake is delicious by itself. When I make this for my family i usually just sprinkle a little powdered sugar all over to make it look pretty:)

This is my second homemade birthday cake I have made for one of my children's birthdays and I must say it was a success. The racetrack was made from crumbled up dairy free Newmans Own Oreos. I used the inside of the Oreo for the little white dividing road lines. It was however, challenging to  put this together without my son noticing what I was doing. At one point he was sitting on the counter by me trying to eat all the crumbles and asking for "just one more cookie". In the end though, I had one happy boy.