Flourless Chocolate Cake

I love being a girl! For as long as I can remember I have loved being a girl. However, I have few quirks that occasionally make me feel distinctly un-feminine (at least by typical American standards...). I don't like shoes, either the wearing of them or the purchasing of them; I hate having to buy a new purse; I get super stressed out over the whole topic of coordinating an outfit with accessories and last (and most atrocious), I don't typically crave chocolate. Once in a great while I can be attacked by a chocolate craving with the best of them, but more often than not my crazed emotional food obsessions lean toward the salty and crunchy (think french fries or potato chips).

But a few months ago I found myself dating this adorable man who LOVES chocolate and specifically seems to love eating chocolate with me! He also happens to be super supportive of my variety of food "issues" and allergies, which has left us exploring what this city has to offer in the way of flourless chocolate cakes. We have found a few really good ones so far and I have actually been pretty surprised at the number of food establishments with one of these on the menu. Our list of keepers thus far includes Biaggi's, the Cafe at Poor Richards and the Wisdom Tea House. The tea house one is my favorite of the three. It turned me right into a puddle on the floor! I have heard that P.F. Changs has one too but we have not tried it yet.

This weekend, I stepped out and made my very own flourless chocolate cake. Jeff's mom sent me the recipe off of the blog of a friend of hers. If you look closely at the recipe below you will very likely think something to the affect of, "What?! Weird!" and maybe even, "Gross!" I will ask you to trust me on this though. I was skeptical as well, but the end result was wonderful with a really rich dark chocolate "fudgy" taste. I would recommend this one even to those of you who can eat regular chocolate cake.

Here you go:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (19oz) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 eggs
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour (with gluten-free flour) a 9-inch cake pan.
- Place chocolate chips in a bowl and heat, stirring every 20 seconds or so until they are melted and smooth.
- Combine beans and eggs in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the sugar and baking powder and pulse to blend. Pour in the melted chocolate and blend until smooth.
- Transfer batter to the prepared cake pan. Bake approximately 40 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out smooth.

Just the plain cake was lovely. Next time I might try adding a little Amarretto and topping it with raspberries and Cool Whip or maybe adding some instant coffee and Kahlua. The possibilities are endless! What is cool is that with the bulk of the cake coming from the beans, it is definitely a much healthier version of "cake" than what is traditional.

If you try it out, let me know what you think!