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 here), 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 here.
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.
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.
- 420g tin of beans (red kidney, cannelli, butter, or bortolli), drained and rinsed
- 1 tbls coffee granules
- 20g filtered water
- 20g vanilla extract
- 125g butter, room temperature, cut into cubes
- 180g light muscovado sugar, or brown sugar
- 5 x 60g eggs
- 70g Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bi carb soda
- 2 x 420g tin of beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbls coffee granules
- 40g filtered water
- 40g vanilla extract
- 250g butter, room temperature, cut into cubes
- 360g light muscovado sugar, or brown sugar
- 10 x 60g eggs
- 140g Dutch cocoa powder
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bi carb soda
- Grease and line tin of choice
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced and place rack into middle of oven
- Place beans, water, coffee and vanilla into TM bowl and blend 1 minute x speed 7
- Scrape around bowl and blend for a further 1 minute / speed 6
- Add butter and sugar and blend 2 minutes / speed 4
- Set machine to speed 4 and add remaining eggs one at a time through hole in lid … once last egg has been added allow machine to run for a further 20 seconds
- Add cocoa, salt, baking powder and bi carb soda and mix 10 seconds / speed 4
- Scrape around bowl
- FOR LOAF: mix 2 seconds / speed 4
- FOR CAKE: mix 6 seconds / speed 5
- Pour batter into prepared tin
- FOR LOAF: bake 50 minutes (takes exactly 50 minutes in my oven)
- FOR CAKE: 1 hour 10 minutes (takes exactly 1 hour 10 minutes in my oven) or until a skewer inserted into middle comes out clean
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely (for the loaf I kept it upright and placed it onto cooling rack using the baking paper to help remove it from the tin, for the cake I turned it upside down onto the cooling rack and allowed it to cool completely before turning it upright onto the serving plate)
- Cake is delicious just as it is without any icing, but if you want to make it extra special would suggest you use a dark chocolate ganache
Hi,
I would like to make a healthy chocolate cake for my sons birthday, I need a large cake one that fits a 30cm tin. Could you give me an idea on the quantities and baking time please??
Kind Regards
Ange
Hello Ange … thanks for dropping by … can I please confirm … is it the Magic Bean Chocolate cake that you are interested in? Or are you looking for another recipe? xo Gina
Hi Gina;
It’s the magic bean cake, thank you
Kind Regards
Ange
Okay Ange … now I feel a little nervous as I haven’t made this cake in a 30cm round bake tin and I don’t want to lead you astray … so I would definitely recommend you give it a trial run first as I would be so disappointed if it didn’t work out for you. But this is what I would do:
1. do 1-1/2 times the recipe … it might be easier for calculations if you did 1 x loaf mix and 1 x cake mix … do the cake mix first, place into your tin, and then top with the loaf mix … ensure that it doesn’t come up any higher than the level of what you can see in the photos in the post
2. bake for the same amount of time as for the cake, then test with a skewer … as the tin is large and the level of the cake batter is the same I don’t think it will take longer to cook, but test before taking out of the oven
3. ensure you measure the base of your tin because although it says 30cm, it may in fact measure 28cm … I found this happens with a lot of tins so I always measure … this is more for your reference than anything else so that you know what you are using in future.
Ange … you will find this cake rises quite a bit in the oven, and then when taken out it settles down to a relatively level top particularly when you turn it upside down to cool. It can simply be dusted with icing sugar, but if it is for your son’s birthday then I think a nice coating of ganache (just good quality chocolate and cream or coconut cream) would be lovely.
Please let me know how it goes Ange … I would be really keen to find out.
PS: if you think you have too much batter just make a couple of small cupcakes, but don’t overfill the tin as I am worried it may overflow … all the best Ange xo Gina
THank you so much Gina for your wonderful advice, ill definitely let you know how I go, with some photos to show you.
Thanks again so much.
Kindest Regards
Ange
Beautiful recipe! I added 3/4 of the stated sugar and it was still sweet enough for my taste. I also made the recipe for the big cake but used a loaf pan and made 16 cupcakes with the remainder (baked for 20mins).
Hello Rose … you have no idea how happy it makes me when i know someone has found a recipe that they like and can work with … thank you so much also for adding your comments about the adjustments you have made so that others can learn from that too … happy baking xo