Black Bean Mocha Fudge Cake with Chocolate Bean Spread

A collaboration with chef and cookbook author Ali Honour, Conscious Chef and Bean Queen

We are so proud to bring you this recipe in partnership with Ali Honour from her gorgeous new book Beans. Ali has spent years making the case that beans are not just good for you but genuinely, deeply delicious, and this cake is her most persuasive argument yet. When she shared it with us, we knew immediately it belonged here.

I will be honest with you. I would not ordinarily use my precious milpa-farmed heirloom Chaparro beans for a cake. It felt almost wrong. But one bite and I completely changed my mind. This cake is fudgy, moist, and so decadent I could not stop eating it. The kind of thing you would be proud to bring to any table, any celebration, any occasion where you want to quietly blow someone's mind. The recipe is brilliant, and the heirloom beans make all the difference. Sorry not sorry.

The cake gets even better with Ali's Chocolate Bean Spread layered between each tier. Silky, fudgy, and ready in minutes, it doubles as the filling and doubles as a reason to make a double batch.

The Bean: Chaparro, Milpa-Farmed Heirloom Black Beans

For this recipe we reach for our Chaparro beans. These small, jet-black heirloom beans are grown using the ancient milpa farming tradition, a polyculture system where beans, corn, and squash are cultivated together, each nourishing the others. One of the oldest and most sustainable agricultural systems in the Americas, and one that produces beans with a depth of flavor that commodity black beans simply cannot touch.

The Chaparro cooks up silky and creamy, with a rich earthiness that carries cocoa beautifully. Where a regular black bean might disappear into the batter, the Chaparro adds something you taste but cannot quite name, a roundness, a quiet complexity, a richness that makes you go back for another slice. Once you bake with a real heirloom bean, you will understand why we keep coming back.

To cook the beans: Simmer dry Chaparro beans in water with a generous pinch of salt and one cinnamon stick. The cinnamon adds a subtle warmth that plays beautifully with the chocolate and coffee in this cake. Cook until completely soft and silky before using.

Bean alternative: Any creamy cooked black bean works here but my favorite alternative would be black tepary for it's chocolaty flavor. The Chaparro is our recommendation, but use what you have.

The Chocolate Bean Spread You'll Want on Everything

This is the recipe that will quietly change your pantry. Ali's chocolate bean spread is silky, rich, and packed with plant-based protein, and it comes together in a blender in under fifteen minutes. Medjool dates bring natural sweetness, good cocoa powder does the heavy lifting, and a splash of the date soaking water brings it to a perfectly smooth, spreadable consistency. A little vanilla, a pinch of salt, and it is done.

Slather it on toast, spoon it over porridge, dollop it on ice cream, or layer it generously between the cake tiers as Ali intended. We tried it with our Chaparro beans and with baby butter beans, and both were heavenly. Make a double batch. You will not regret it.

The Cake That Will Make You a Bean Believer

This is the one. Rich, fudgy, and completely gluten-free, Ali's Black Bean Mocha Fudge Cake works as a celebration layer cake, a traybake, or brownie-style squares, and every version is extraordinary. The batter comes together in a food processor, blending cooked heirloom beans with eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla until completely smooth, then folding in cocoa powder, baking powder, and, if you are feeling it, two tablespoons of used coffee grounds that deepen the chocolate into something almost moody. It bakes quickly, about ten to twelve minutes for the layers, and comes out dense and moist in the best possible way.

The icing is a simple beat-together of butter, icing sugar, cocoa, and vanilla. For the layer cake, the Chocolate Bean Spread goes between each tier and the icing goes on top. For a traybake, use either one. For brownies, leave it plain and cut into squares.

We assembled ours as a three-layer cake with the spread as filling and could not believe what we were eating. Neither could anyone else at the table.

*A Note On Our Recipes: Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there.

Black Bean Mocha Fudge Cake with Chocolate Bean Spread

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Category

Spread, Condiment

Cuisine

American, Plant-Based

Chef Ali Honour's showstopping Black Bean Mocha Fudge Cake is rich, fudgy, and completely gluten-free, made with milpa-farmed heirloom Chaparro beans that bring a creamy depth no ordinary black bean can match. The silky Chocolate Bean Spread, packed with plant-based protein and naturally sweetened with Medjool dates, layers between each tier as the filling and doubles as a decadent topping for traybakes. Two recipes, one extraordinary cake, and proof that heirloom beans belong in every part of your kitchen, including dessert.

Ingredients

CHOCOLATE BEAN SPREAD

• 150g (5¼ oz) Medjool dates, pitted

• 250g (1½ cups) cooked Chaparro beans, or 1 x 400g (14oz) tin, drained and rinsed (or try butter beans, cannellini, chickpeas, or haricot beans)

• 45g (heaped ⅓ cup) good-quality cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons flaxseeds (or ground flaxseeds for a smoother texture)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

BLACK BEAN MOCHA FUDGE CAKE - For the cake:

• 500g (3 cups) cooked Chaparro black beans, or 2 x 400g (14oz) tins, drained and rinsed

• 250g (1¼ cups) caster sugar

• 6 large eggs

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 75g (½ cup + 1½ tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons used coffee grounds (optional)

• 1½ teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

BLACK BEAN MOCHA FUDGE CAKE - For the icing:

• 30g (2 tablespoons) butter, softened

• 3 to 4 tablespoons icing sugar

• 1 to 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Splash of just-boiled water to thin if needed

• *Double the icing quantities if making a traybake.

BLACK BEAN MOCHA FUDGE CAKE - For the layer cake filling:

• 1 batch of Chocolate Bean Spread (recipe above)

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Directions

MAKE THE CHOCOLATE BEAN SPREAD

1. Sterilize a jar and its lid by washing in hot soapy water, then placing upside-down on a baking tray in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for at least 15 minutes. Alternatively, run them through the dishwasher and leave them in there until ready to use.

2. Soak the pitted dates in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Drain, but keep the soaking water.

3. Add the dates to a food processor or high-speed blender with the beans, cocoa powder, flaxseeds, vanilla, and salt. Blitz to combine.

4. With the motor running, gradually add 60 to 80ml (¼ to ⅓ cup) of the reserved soaking water, blending until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides as needed.

5. Taste and adjust sweetness (add more dates or the optional maple syrup) or richness (add more cocoa) as desired. Blend again.

6. Transfer to the sterilized jar, seal, and store in the fridge for up to five days.

MAKE THE CAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). For a layer cake, grease 3 x 20cm (8in) cake tins and line with non-stick baking paper. For a traybake, grease and line a 23cm x 33cm (9in x 13in) baking tin.

2. Add the cooked beans to a food processor with the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Blend until completely smooth.

3. Add the cocoa powder, coffee grounds if using, baking powder, and salt. Blend just until fully combined.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the three tins for a layer cake, or pour into the rectangular tin for a traybake. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes for the three layers, or 18 to 22 minutes for the traybake, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

6. To make the icing, beat together the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla until smooth. Add a splash of just-boiled water if needed to reach a spreadable consistency.

7. To assemble the layer cake, place one cake layer on a serving platter and spread half the Chocolate Bean Spread over the top, going right to the edges. Add the second layer and cover with the remaining spread. Top with the final layer and spread the icing over it.

8. For a traybake, spread either the Chocolate Bean Spread or the icing over the top. For brownies, leave plain and cut into squares.

Recipe Note

*A Note On Our Recipes: Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there.