4 Ingredient Healthy Chocolate Cake
This healthy chocolate cake will still satisfy your chocolate cravings. It doesn't contain any flour, added sugar, butter or oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (295 g) pitted medjool dates
- 6 tbsp (42 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp (9 g) baking powder
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease the interior of a 6 inch springform pan and then line with parchment paper.
- Add dates to a food processor and blend until a smooth paste forms. The dates should pull away from the sides of the food processor and form a ball. See photo in post for reference. See notes section regarding possibly needing to rehydrate the dates before blending.
- Once date paste forms, add in the cocoa powder and blend until fully incorporated.
- Add in baking powder and eggs. Blend until smooth. You will need to scrape down your batter a few times and you may want to alternate between pulsing and processing to make sure all of the dates are blended. It can take several minutes to make your batter smooth. Very tiny bits of dates can remain but you don't want too many date pieces because then you'll just taste the dates in your cake.
- Pour cake into prepared pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out mostly clean. It's okay if your batter is not fully set. You don't want to overbake the cake. Let cake cool completely before serving. The cake will deflate slightly as it cools. If desired, you can frost the cake before serving. See notes section for the frosting I used.
Notes
- If you are using a fresh package of very soft mejdool dates, you can just blend them as they are. If your dates feel a bit firm or dry, you will need to rehydrate them before using. To do so, soak them in warm water for about 15 minutes. Then lightly pat dry and use.
- Make sure to remove pits from your dates before measuring.
- You want to make your date paste as smooth as possible because it will be difficult to blend the dates once you add in the other ingredients. A few tiny pieces of dates is okay but you don't want too many because then you will taste the dates in your cake.
- My favorite Medjool dates to use are Double Date Organic Medjool Dates.*
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- Even though this cake does not contain added sugar, it is not a low sugar recipe because the dates contain a lot of natural sugar.
- For the chocolate frosting in the pictures, I used 3 tbsp coconut oil (melted), 6 tbsp cacao powder, and 3 tbsp pure maple syrup. To make the frosting, add oil and cacao powder to a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. Your mixture should look like melted chocolate. Add in maple syrup. (Do not add maple syrup until the end. The maple syrup will thicken the mixture. If you add it with the other ingredients, it will make it very difficult to mix.) Whisk until smooth frosting forms. Please note this frosting does not work with dutch processed cocoa powder. I don't know if it works with natural cocoa.
- If you don't have these ingredients on hand for the frosting, another frosting idea is to make a ganache out of dark chocolate and heavy cream.
- This cake is quite rich and heavy so I recommend small slices. I usually cut mine into 10 slices. For the photos, I made the slices slightly bigger.
- The estimated nutrition does not include frosting.
Serving: 1slice, Calories: 115kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 85mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 19g, NET CARBS: 20
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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