BROWNIE CAKE with chocolate fudge frosting (shhhh...don't tell them it's made with chickpeas)

So, I've been wanting to share this recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cake. This recipe was adapted from another source. There is also a funny story that goes along with this (my only regret is that I didn't take a picture to post along with it)! Oh well, there's always "next time," and I'm certain there will be many more opportunities to post my "flops!" 

I subscribe to Dr. David Brownstein's emails and I have a few of his publications/books, such as 'The Guide to HEALTHY EATING.' I whole-heartedly recommend him if you are ever in need of resources in the area of holistic medicine. In my opinion, he has a lot of helpful information. Recipe is as follows (taken directly from the book above):

Chocolate Brownie Cake

1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans
3/4 cup organic chocolate chips 
3 free range, organic eggs
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar or sucanat 
1/4 cup organic butter 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and process in a food processor into small pieces. Add remaining ingredients and process again until smooth. Pour into a buttered (I used coconut spray) 8 X 8 inch Pyrex dish. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Cool cake and frost, if desired.

Chocolate-Fudgy Frosting
2 Tablespoons organic heavy cream, yogurt, or almond milk (I used almond milk)
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar or sucanat
1/4 cup organic chocolate chips
1/4 cup raw almond butter or cashew butter (I used almond butter)

Combine the cream, sugar, chocolate, and butter in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until melted and mixture comes almost to a boil. Add the nut butter and mix well. Let cool for 5 minutes before spreading on cake (has a fudge-like consistency).

Before heating the ingredients for the frosting

After I added the almond butter

The end product!

YUM!!!

Now for the "flop" story. I had been looking forward to these ALL day! I had made them the night before, came home from the gym the next day and thought...ok, I definitely deserve a few of these (I shouldn't tell you it had been almost 2 weeks since I had worked out...that's a whole other story)! Anyway...as I started to cut them to place on the plate to take photos, I came across something really tough to cut through. I thought to myself...hmmmmm...."That must be a few really hard chickpeas that didn't get ground up."  I still thought it very odd, because how hard can chickpeas really be? When I went to place the brownie on the plate, along with it came the little silica gel packets that you would find in shoe boxes, electronics...ummmm...bags of cacao powder (that I had used instead of the chocolate chips)!!! YES, you guessed it! I had scooped up the gel packet from my bag of cacao powder and baked it in the cake. So, I am thinking it was pretty toxic after baking with that in it! After the pictures, I had to throw the whole thing away!:( 

My boys came home from camp and were looking so forward to the brownies. They were just as disappointed as I was. Oh well...and so it goes! On to the next recipe...