This Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake recipe tastes as devilishly naughty as a sugar and dairy laden chocolate cake, but is vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free and only contains naturally occurring fruit sugars – keeping your body nourished and your taste buds exceptionally happy. It has definitely been one of the most popular recipes up on my blog, Naturally Sassy, and for good reason – it’s better than any store bought ‘free from’ cake I’ve ever tasted.

Ingredients

Cake

2 x 400g Black Beans

50g of Cacao Powder

500g of Dates

1.5 cup coconut flour

6 eggs

325ml dairy free milk (add an extra 125ml if needed)

75-80ml agave syrup (how sweet you like it)

Salted Caramel Frosting

1 x 170g jar of cashew butter

125ml melted coconut oil

75ml water

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

80ml agave syrup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two cake tins with parchment paper.

Start by draining the black beans and adding to a saucepan along with the pitted dates. Fill with water, boil to the boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes until the dates are as soft as can be without falling apart.

Drain the beans and dates and add to a blender along with the dairy free milk, agave and cacao powder. Blend until smooth and pour into a large mixing bowl.

Add the whole eggs to a bowl and beat. Slowly fold it into the mixture stirring well. Add the coconut flour and mix really well.

Divide evenly into both tins and place in the oven to bake for 50 minutes, or until you can insert a knife into the cake and it comes out clean.

Whilst the cake bakes we make the icing. Simply blend the coconut oil with the agave syrup, cashew butter, vanilla extract, water and a generous pinch of salt until smooth. Leave on the side to thicken while the cake bakes.

Once the cake is cooked, leave on a cooling rack until cooled. Layer as in the picture with icing sandwiched between the cake and oozing on top. Generously sprinkle some cacao nibs on top for a delicious crunch.

Enjoy!

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