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Black Bean Brownies: Vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free


I have had the most outrageously chocolatey week. Not only did I decide on brownies for this week's recipe, but by sheer coincidence I then received surprise Norah's Brownies in the post from my lovely friend Jo (aka Eddie & Bee), AND my local, Leaf & Bean Cafe, put vegan brownies on the menu for the first time which I had to sample (obviously)!

I've tinkered around with this recipe quite a bit. It's loosely based on the chocolate decadence cake by Flo & Grace which was the first cake I ever made using black beans (utterly delicious), but I wanted the brownies to be lighter. I have also, by request of our friend Ben, made a salted caramel frosting for the top.

After having a little bitch at Tom for never acknowledging Valentines Day, him buying me a beautiful plant, and then not making any effort to acknowledge it myself, mmmm, these are for him. I even cut a few into heart shapes, and not just for a pretty picture....honest!!

RECIPE: Makes 8 brownies

INGREDIENTS

BROWNIE

  • 80ml coconut oil

  • 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

  • 60ml agave or maple syrup

  • 2 tablespoons vanilla essence

  • 250g black beans, cooked weight

  • 100g cashews, soaked overnight

  • 50g coconut flour

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

  • 120ml water

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

FROSTING

  • 150g cashews, soaked overnight

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 50g pitted dates, chopped

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 60ml coconut oil

  • 60ml coconut milk, just the hard top

  • 60ml maple syrup

METHOD

BROWNIE

  • Preheat the oven to 180°c (fan)

  • In a small pan, melt the coconut oil on a medium – low heat

  • Add the chocolate pieces and stir occasionally until melted

  • Remove from the heat and stir in the agave and vanilla essence

  • Put the beans, cashews, coconut flour, salt, cocoa powder, water and melted chocolate mixture into a blender and blitz until really smooth

  • Add the baking powder and blitz for a few more seconds

  • Line a baking dish, around 20 x 30cm, and pour in the mixture

  • Bake for 40 minutes

  • Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. It may seem undercooked but will firm up on standing

  • Wait for it to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting, or leave it to cool completely if you want to frost it

FROSTING

  • While the cake is cooling, make the frosting

  • Put all the ingredients apart from the cashews in a small saucepan and simmer on a medium heat, stirring constantly for about five minutes

  • Remove from heat and leave to cool a little, I put mine outside for 10 minutes

  • Put cashews and date mixture into a high speed blender and blitz until really smooth, I use a Nutribullet

  • Scrape into a bowl, cover and place in the freezer for around 45 minutes

  • Remove from the freezer and whisk with an electric whisk for around three minutes, or until stiff peaks form

  • Either spread the frosting onto the brownies with a spatula or spoon the frosting into an icing bag fitted with a nozzle and get creative!

TIPS

  • If you don’t have time to soak the cashews overnight, soak them in boiling hot water for at least an hour

  • The longer you leave the brownie to cool the easier it is to cut, especially if you want to use a pastry cutter. If you're short on time, bung it in the fridge for half an hour.

  • If the frosting doesn’t form stiff peaks after 3 minutes of whisking, place it back in the freezer for 15 minutes and repeat the process

  • Once iced, unless being eaten immediately, its best to keep the brownies cool so the frosting doesn’t melt

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