Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

I know what your thinking. "Apparently her diet went out the window if she's making things like chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting"! But it hasn't. I am still doing great following South Beach. I just happened upon the recipe for the cake and frosting and threw in some peanut butter for a change in taste :-)

My mom makes the most amazing homemade (as in, not from a box, but actually homemade) chocolate cake and then makes the yummiest peanut butter frosting for the top. I love it, I mean, I really love it! As you can imagine, however, it is not very low-carb or sugar free, which means it's a bit of a no-no for me. This cake, while not exactly the same, is delicious and makes me forget that I can't actually have my mom's cake.

I found the recipe here.

Chocolate Bean Cake - Phase I
1 15 oz can black beans (drained & rinsed)
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup Splenda (to taste, use 3/4 cup max)
3 TBSP baking cocoa (4 TBSP if you use the extra splenda)
2 TBSP strong coffee (or 1 TBSP espresso powder or coffee dissolved in 1 TBSP hot water)
1 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP Smart Beat spread or canola oil (I used smart spread)
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP chopped walnuts or hazelnuts-optional

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare an 8x8 baking pan by spraying it with Pam.

Blend the egg yolks,splenda,baking powder, Smart Beat (or oil), vanilla, coffee, & cocoa in a blender or with a stick blender. Add the rinsed & drained beans & puree until smooth. Transfer bean mixture to a bowl if using a blender.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the bean
mixture to lighten the bean mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites in two portions. It's OK if some white streaks remain in the batter.

Pour the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle the top with chopped nuts if desired. Tap the pan on counter a couple of times to release any air pockets. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Makes 16 2"x2" servings.

Note: coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate & makes it more chocolaty, you don't taste the coffee.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. 1/3rd less fat cream cheese
1/2 to 1 Cup Splenda (to taste)
1 or 2 tsp. vanilla (again to taste)
Any DaVinci SF syrups to taste

Nuke the cheese until soft. Blend in Splenda & vanilla.



I think the hardest part of the cake for me was getting it blended enough to grind up the beans. I had it in the blender, but it is quite a thick mixture and it just wasn't blending it well enough. I did finally manage to get it right, but only after I kept opening it and mixing by hand then turning the blender on again. Next time I may give it a try in the magic bullet and see if it works any better.

I sprinkled some walnuts on top of the cake before putting it in to bake. I probably wouldn't do that next time if putting peanut butter frosting on because that is quite a lot of nuts to have, but it looked pretty :-) Here it is before I frosted it.

After frosting it

As you can see there is a small piece missing out of it. that's the piece I cut for my husband before frosting it. He has an allergy to peanuts, which may or may not be the reason I decided to frost it in peanut butter frosting. Previously I've made stuff for myself only to find he's eaten it all before I had a chance to get any, despite the fact he's skinny as a rail and can eat anything he'd like. I've learned if I want it left alone to just throw something peanutty on it and he stays away ;-)

If you plan to not frost the cake I would probably add a little bit more Splenda. I had a tiny taste of my husbands plain piece and I felt it could have used just a touch more sweetness. If you plan to frost it though, there is no need to have any more Splenda in the cake.

Everything about this was delicious. I tried the frosting before putting the peanut butter in and it was delicious that way too. I did add in about 1/2 cup Cool Whip to the frosting to make it easier to spread (a little hint they had posted on the original website). This was definitely a great find and I'm sure I'll be making it on a regular basis!