Chocolate Chickpea Cake

Well, today is my 27th Birthday - yay!!!  I love birthdays and love the opportunity to do fun things and spend time with special people!  The hubby, kids & I are heading off on a little mini-break today, so we celebrated with family last night.  I left the menu completely up to mum, and she excelled herself as usual!  For main course, she made this, as she knows Mexican is my current favourite.

And for dessert, she brought out a delicious chocolate cake.  It wasn't until after we'd eaten, that she revealed exactly what it was.  We were all shocked and amazed!  I would have NEVER guessed that it had chickpeas in it and I couldn't even taste the orange juice!  Mum used dextrose instead of the sugar listed below - it really wasn't sweet, but just had that deep, beautiful flavour of a cocoa-rich dark chocolate.  The nuts are optional (we had walnuts) and you could also use dark chocolate chips instead of the cocoa.  The cherry sauce (listed below) just gives it that extra texture and flavour - a real winner!

This one is worth a try - you'll be amazed!

Ingredients
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2/3 cup orange juice
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup hazelnuts or walnuts, roasted and crushed

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius/160 fan-forced.  Blend chickpeas and orange juice in a food processor.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add all other ingredients and combine.  Bake in a round 8 or 9-inch tin for 45 minutes.  Let cool in tin.

Cherry Sauce
2 cups frozen cherries
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cornstarch

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Spread over cake and serve.

Nana's special helper!