I am so inspired by people who are truly clever cooks, and Sarah Wong (known as “Clever Cook”) comes up with some amazing recipes. Her original recipe for “Magic Bean Chocolate Cake” was developed in 2011 (see main screen for link), but I decided to fiddle with it a little to make a larger cake for a friend who needed a GF and nut free cake for an upcoming wedding.

When dealing with baked chocolate goodies I do like to add a little coffee … you won’t taste it but it certainly heightens the chocolate flavour so I would encourage you to use it.

You can use any tinned beans you like, but chickpeas and soy beans are a bit strong and can affect the ultimate flavour of the cake. I have used kidney beans, butter beans, canelli beans and bortolli beans in this recipe all with great success.

I used light muscovado sugar (or brown sugar) as it adds a gorgeous richness, and chose to use Dutch cocoa powder for its depth of flavour … again I would encourage you to go with these adaptions if you are looking to make a rich, deeply flavoured chocolate cake. The taste is so delicious I would definitely consider serving this as a dessert along with some berries and a rich cream. It also cuts perfectly so that is a positive when wanting to get a certain “look” on a dessert plate.

For more information on the difference between Dutch cocoa and natural (regular) cocoa see the link on the main screen.

Although I haven’t tied it, Sarah suggests you can use an oil instead of butter if you need to make the cake dairy free, and in that case I would recommend using a light olive oil which is what I use when baking.

I have tested this recipe as a small loaf, and have also doubled the ingredients to make a much larger 24cm round cake, so I have given the ingredients for both to make it easier for you. Method is the same except just at the end I found I needed to mix the double quantity for a few seconds longer.