An easy nutrient dense chocolate chickpea cake you can make in a food processor!

This super easy and nutrient dense chocolate chickpea cake can be whizzed up in just a few minutes in a blender. It bakes in 20 minutes and can be eaten straight from the dish warm and gooey. I love a simple dessert like that! Sprouting the chickpeas makes them more easily digestible and the combination of the chickpeas and oats makes a complete protein source. So along with eggs it’s a protein rich and nutrient dense chocolate dessert option. And also delicious!

It’s not exactly the same as a regular flour chocolate cake (there’s an easy single serving one of those HERE) but it’s a great lower sugar, nutrient dense one for every day. There’s a place for every kind of cake, but different moments want different things and this is perfect when I want a chocolate cake fix with more real food protein and less sugar. Enjoy!

Why use sprouted chickpeas?

I love adding delicious desserts into our diet that are also nutrient dense. Chickpeas are a rich source of vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, and manganese and are also high in protein. Then especially when we buy them dry, in bulk and sprout them – they’re a great budget food purchase. (These are the ones I get weekly.)

Sprouting beans and chickpeas makes them more easily digestible for for a lot of people opening up a budget friendly protein source to more people. Any recipe that cooks the chickpeas first like this chocolate chickpea cake, you can also make with non sprouted chickpeas. As long as they’re cooked, they can be used interchangeably a can of pre cooked chickpeas works just as well.

How to Sprout + Cook Chickpeas:

It’s very easy to do and so worth trying for this recipe and others! If you don’t sprout them, at least getting into the habit of soaking and cooking from dry can make a budget and digestibility difference. Also, it feels like free food to me when any bean grows in my kitchen and get bigger!

  1. Soak a cup of dry chickpeas in 3 cups of water overnight.
  2. In the morning (or after 12 hours) drain the chickpeas in a colander or sieve. Skip to step 6 if you don’t want to sprout them!
  3. Leave them on a countertop and “wash” them twice a day by running water over them and draining again. You can also add them to a jar with a cheesecloth over the top and rinse and drain them in the jar. Use what you have! You don’t want them sitting water, but you don’t want them dry – that’s the goal of washing them.
  4. After a day or so you’ll see little white sprouts coming out of the chickpeas.
  5. You can cook them and use them at any point after soaking, I like to wait 2 days of sprouting growing and then use them.
  6. Drain the water and add the chickpeas to a sauce pan, fully covered with water.
  7. Bring the water and chickpeas to a boil with a lid on, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid off for an hour or until the chickpeas are soft. Make sure the water doesn’t boil off and is always covering the chickpeas.
  8. Drain the chickpeas, cool and store in the fridge in an airtight container for 1-2 days before using.

General baking tip: if you’re reaching into your pantry and subbing cake ingredients from what you normally use, then bake in a dish! Scooping it out of a baking dish instead of popping it out of a cake tin makes any cake recipe much more forgiving. So try doing it like that if you’re not sure how your substitution will go!
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My top food processor choices (after trying SO many!)

A food processor is my top choice for a kitchen counter top appliance if you have just one. It’s the best multitasker and you can do a lot with just a food processor. It can do a lot from making nut butter, to blending batters, shredding veggies, and even making smoothies and simple ice creams. There are so many out there and I’d always say look second hand first, but these are my top choices after trying so many.

Chocolate Chickpea Cake

Makes an 8-10″ delicious thin cake
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time25 mins
Course: Dessert
Keyword: blender recipe, chickpeas, chocolate cake
Servings: 8 Slices

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ Cups Cooked chickpeas (sprouting optional) Chickpeas dry out quickly after cooking so add an extra splash of water if they’re not freshly cooked. If they are from a can, then there's no need to cook them again before adding.
  • 2 tbsp Water
  • Cup Honey Up this to ½ for a sweeter cake
  • 2 Eggs
  • ½ Tsp Vanilla paste or Extract
  • Cup Fairtrade Cocoa Powder
  • 1/4 Cup Oat Flour This can be subbed for any nut flour and can be made by finely grinding oats first in the blender.
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • Pinch Salt
  • 1/4 Cup Chocolate buttons or chunks

Instructions

  • Put the chickpeas in the blender first and blend them until they are as smooth as they’ll go. 
    baked chocolate cake batter in a tin on a stone floor
  • Add the honey and vanilla and blend again to aid in getting the chickpeas smooth.
  • Crack in the eggs and pulse the blender to blend them in until just combined and smooth.
  • When all of that is combined well, add in the dry ingredients and blend just enough to incorporate it all. 
  • Spread the batter into a 8-10” cake tin/skillet/dish and smooth it with the back of a spoon.
    chocolate cake batter in a tin on a stone floor
  • Place the chocolate buttons or chunks on top spreading out evenly.
  • Cook about 20 mins on 150C/350F or until it’s just firm to the touch.
  • Scoop it straight from the dish and top with yogurt, ice cream or just eat it as is. It can also be cooled and warmed later or eaten cool. It's best eaten fresh within a day of cooking.
    a spoonful of cake above a cake pan.

OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

Sourdough Discard Chocolate Cakes

Sprouted Chickpea Chocolate Hummus for Dipping and Spreading!

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