Self-confessed Carbo-holic

There!

My secret's out.

"My name is Melody, and I'm a carboholic."

Croissants are my "crack," & I simply crave a good crusty sourdough boule!

*/sigh\*

So, in an effort to make the scales stop screaming when I step on them, I'm living very low carb the past couple weeks.  This is very difficult for me given my addiction, my love for baking & the need to feed my growing boys & the hubs. Also, unfortunately, when I do find something 0-carb & palatable, the guys scarf it down. (With the exception of tuna dishes, I've found...)

God bless the creator of the Chocolate Black Bean Torte recipe! It's a guilt-free brownie kinda treat. I'm working at perfecting my recipe -- and I'm getting close to what I want.

We had slow-cooker black beans last night (I fix them about once a week & if there are left-overs, they make up chili a couple days later...) and I grabbed what I needed before I "savoried" them up for the table.

This morning I got up early & gathered my remaining ingredients:

 

 (Yes, Costco ♥s our family! -- We buy most everything in bulk: 5 dozen eggs, 5#s of cocoa, large box of kosher salt...)

REALLY! good cocoa!

Processed the beans:

Added remaining ingredients & whirled them up:

Scraped batter into the waiting pan:

Baked it:

Cooled it:

Sliced it:

Ate it:

And shared it with some disbelieving, low-carb needing friends.

Now I share with you this recipe with my modifications:

Chocolate Black Bean Torte

Ingredients:

1 – 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 2 cups cooked black beans

8 oz Egg Beaters 4 eggs

¾ cup Splenda  6 packets Splenda®

¾ cup sugar  ⅓ cup blue agave syrup

½ tsp baking powder

1 t. vanilla

¾ cup cocoa
¼ t. salt

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place beans in a food processor; purée until smooth. Add egg beaters while beans are puréeing. Turn food processor off and add remaining ingredients. Process until well blended and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes then remove cake from pan. Serve torte at room temperature.

(I can't provide you with accurate nutritional information, because the original recipe uses white sugar as well as having a sauce made with raspberry sorbet!)

Last time I baked this I used Splenda® & stevia which made it super "sicky" sweet but seemed one-dimensional. The blue agave (which I've never cooked with until today) really seems to "round out" the flavor. Even the batter was fight-to-lick-the-bowl good!