Introduction
I'm not sure if you've seen this pinto bean cake recipe. It's courtesy of Dylan Hollis, and is a hilarious short of a surprisingly delicious cake made out of pinto beans. It's not attempting to be a healthy cake, but it ends up being "healthy-ish", with no refined flour or sugar. So today, I want to make the original, and see if I can improve it, making it both tastier and healthier.
Table of Contents
v1: Original
This is the original recipe. The only thing I've changed is that I halved the recipe, meaning it took less time to bake. Other than that, this is exactly as called for in the original.
Ingredients
Nutrition Facts
Source: Youtube: Dylan Hollis
v2: No Butter/Honey
In place of melted butter and honey, I used unsweetened applesauce and sugar free syrup. Doing so slashes the calories, fat, and sugar, while still keeping the same sweetness and moistness. I also wanted some extra flavoriing in this cake, so I added some vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Additionally, I doubled the baking powder from 1 tsp to 2; I figured the lack of butter may somehow impede the rise of the cake.
Ingredients
Nutrition Facts
v3: Powdered PB
Now that I have something working, let's improve on it in a few ways. Firstly, it needs to be more user friendly; no more 1.5 cans of beans or 2.5 eggs; we need whole numbers. I'm dropping the beans down to 1 can, and removing the eggs. Instead, I'm increasing the applesauce, as it is a good vegan egg replacement. Have you seen egg prices lately?
Secondly, I would like to drop the fat and up the protein, so I'm swapping the ground peanuts for powdered peanut butter. As mentioned, I increased the applesauce; up from 1/4 cup (60 g) to 1 cup (240 g), due to the reduction in beans and removal of eggs. Not only does applesauce function as an egg substitute, but it will also provide some mild sweetness.
Ingredients
Nutrition Facts
Instructions
Results
v1: Original
The original cake was...fine? And that's coming from someone who generally likes bean cakes. The raw batter was decently sweet, but but had a lack of flavor. It certainly wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Not worth the 260 calories per slice in my opinion. Honestly, I think I can make this taste better for a fraction of the calories, fat, and sugar.
I definitely didn't blend the beans and nuts enough though; I had little bits of bean skins in this cake, and I learned this lesson for v2 and v3. Besides that, the texture of the cake was pretty good, and it even looked, cut, and chewed like a cake. It was just missing some flavor, not necessarily sweetness. I sought out to improve on this in v2 with vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
v2: No Butter/Honey
I learned my lesson from v1, and I made sure to blend until all the beans and nuts were fully chopped up. Outside of the lack of bean skins, the raw dough looked the exact same as the first version, and was less gritty. The raw batter tasted nearly identical, despite the substitutions for butter and honey. It still had that same slight blandness, so I added vanilla and cinnamon until I was happy with the taste.
This baked the exact same; 30 minutes at 350F. I got the same clean slices, but this time with no unwanted chunks. What as different was the flavor; the cinnamon, vanilla, and salt did some heavy lifting here. This cake tastes significantly better than the first. Plus it has 90 fewer calories, 40% of the fat, and no added sugar. That's easily a win in my book.
v3: Powdered Peanut Butter
This version was quite a bit different than the previous one, having powdered peanut butter instead of ground peanuts, as well as less beans, no eggs, and more applesauce. Likely due to a lack of fat in the batter, this cake took 1 hour to bake at 350F, while the other 2 took only 30 minutes. A toothpick never came out clean, and the inside of the cake was "squishy", typical of a bean cake.
Despite this, v3 was my favorite version by far. Firstly, I actually preferred the texture change. While it was different than a standard cake, it certainly wasn't bad. Because of the longer cooking time, the outside was slightly crispy, while the inside had a creamy and set filling, similar to a pumpkin pie or a cheesecake. And because of all the cinnamon and applesauce, it kinda tasted like a pumpkin pie too. There was also a stronger peanut butter flavor from the powdered peanut butter, as opposed to the ground peanuts.
This variation not only has my preferred taste and texture, but it also has the best macros. It's lowest in fat, net carbs, sugar, and calories, while being the highest in protein. "But there's no fat", I hear you saying; that just means I can add a drizzle of peanut butter on top. Problem solved.
TL;DR
Nutritional Comparison
Conclusion
This was a fun experiment to run. Not only because I got to cook a funny and dumb recipe that I loved watching, but because I was able to get a successful product in the end. Overall, my preference is v3, but if you want more of a classic cake texture, I'd opt for v2. Maybe a v4 is in order, where I add 1/4 cup (64 g) peanut butter or something, just to get some extra fat into the batter.
Obviously I didn't go with any frostings here, but I could have easily saved the aquafaba (bean water) and made an Aquafaba Whipped Cream as the frosting. Maybe I could have gone for either Date Sweetened Frosting or Banana Bread Hummus Spread. Or even just try mixing 1 cup (226 g) plain nonfat greek yogurt with 2 scoops (60 g) vanilla whey protein powder, and maybe 1 tsp (5 g) almond extract, for a simple and super high protein frosting. Or just eat the cakes naked, you do you.
I'm not sure if you've seen this pinto bean cake recipe. It's courtesy of Dylan Hollis, and is a hilarious short of a surprisingly delicious cake made out of pinto beans. It's not attempting to be a healthy cake, but it ends up being "healthy-ish", with no refined flour or sugar. So today, I want to make the original, and see if I can improve it, making it both tastier and healthier.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- v1: Original
- v2: No Butter/Honey
- v3: Powdered PB
- Instructions
- Results
- TL;DR
- Nutritional Comparison
- Conclusion
v1: Original
This is the original recipe. The only thing I've changed is that I halved the recipe, meaning it took less time to bake. Other than that, this is exactly as called for in the original.
Ingredients
- 1.5 x 15.5 oz can (416 g) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup (110 g) Peanuts
- 2.5 large (126 g) Egg
- 1/4 cup, melted (57 g) Salted butter
- 6 tbsp (127 g) Honey
- 1 tsp (6 g) Baking powder
Nutrition Facts
------------------------------------------
Servings: 8
Calories: 262
------------------------------------------
Total Fat: 14.5g (19 %)
Saturated Fat: 5.3g (26 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.0g
Monounsaturated Fat: 5.7g
Cholesterol: 80mg (27 %)
Sodium: 272mg (12 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 26.9g (10 %)
Fiber: 4.1g (14 %)
Net Carbs: 22.8g
Total Sugar: 14.0g
Added Sugar: 12.9g (26 %)
Protein: 9.0g (18 %)
Total Fat: 14.5g (19 %)
Saturated Fat: 5.3g (26 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.0g
Monounsaturated Fat: 5.7g
Cholesterol: 80mg (27 %)
Sodium: 272mg (12 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 26.9g (10 %)
Fiber: 4.1g (14 %)
Net Carbs: 22.8g
Total Sugar: 14.0g
Added Sugar: 12.9g (26 %)
Protein: 9.0g (18 %)
------------------------------------------
Vitamin B12: 0.17mcg (7 %)
Vitamin D: 0.39mcg (2 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 78mg (6 %)
Iron: 1.28mg (7 %)
Magnesium: 43mg (10 %)
Potassium: 323mg (7 %)
------------------------------------------Vitamin B12: 0.17mcg (7 %)
Vitamin D: 0.39mcg (2 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 78mg (6 %)
Iron: 1.28mg (7 %)
Magnesium: 43mg (10 %)
Potassium: 323mg (7 %)
Glycemic Index:
46.8
Glycemic Load:
12.5
Source: Youtube: Dylan Hollis
v2: No Butter/Honey
In place of melted butter and honey, I used unsweetened applesauce and sugar free syrup. Doing so slashes the calories, fat, and sugar, while still keeping the same sweetness and moistness. I also wanted some extra flavoriing in this cake, so I added some vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Additionally, I doubled the baking powder from 1 tsp to 2; I figured the lack of butter may somehow impede the rise of the cake.
Ingredients
- 1.5 x 15.5 oz can (416 g) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup (110 g) Peanuts
- 2.5 large (126 g) Egg
- 1/4 cup (60 g) Unsweetened applesauce
- 6 tbsp (120 g) Sugar free syrup
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (10 g) Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (1.5 g) Salt
- 2 tsp (10 g) Baking powder
Nutrition Facts
------------------------------------------
Servings: 8
Calories: 176
------------------------------------------
Total Fat: 8.8g (11 %)
Saturated Fat: 1.6g (8 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.8g
Monounsaturated Fat: 4.2g
Cholesterol: 65mg (22 %)
Sodium: 357mg (16 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 24.2g (9 %)
Fiber: 4.6g (16 %)
Net Carbs: 11.6g
Total Sugar: 1.9g
Added Sugar: 0.0g (0 %)
Sugar Alcohol: 8.0g
Protein: 8.9g (18 %)
Total Fat: 8.8g (11 %)
Saturated Fat: 1.6g (8 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.8g
Monounsaturated Fat: 4.2g
Cholesterol: 65mg (22 %)
Sodium: 357mg (16 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 24.2g (9 %)
Fiber: 4.6g (16 %)
Net Carbs: 11.6g
Total Sugar: 1.9g
Added Sugar: 0.0g (0 %)
Sugar Alcohol: 8.0g
Protein: 8.9g (18 %)
------------------------------------------
Vitamin B12: 0.16mcg (7 %)
Vitamin D: 0.39mcg (2 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 113mg (9 %)
Iron: 1.35mg (8 %)
Magnesium: 44mg (11 %)
Potassium: 388mg (8 %)
------------------------------------------Vitamin B12: 0.16mcg (7 %)
Vitamin D: 0.39mcg (2 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 113mg (9 %)
Iron: 1.35mg (8 %)
Magnesium: 44mg (11 %)
Potassium: 388mg (8 %)
Glycemic Index:
21.3
Glycemic Load:
5.1
v3: Powdered PB
Now that I have something working, let's improve on it in a few ways. Firstly, it needs to be more user friendly; no more 1.5 cans of beans or 2.5 eggs; we need whole numbers. I'm dropping the beans down to 1 can, and removing the eggs. Instead, I'm increasing the applesauce, as it is a good vegan egg replacement. Have you seen egg prices lately?
Secondly, I would like to drop the fat and up the protein, so I'm swapping the ground peanuts for powdered peanut butter. As mentioned, I increased the applesauce; up from 1/4 cup (60 g) to 1 cup (240 g), due to the reduction in beans and removal of eggs. Not only does applesauce function as an egg substitute, but it will also provide some mild sweetness.
Ingredients
- 15.5oz can (277 g) Pinto beans, drained
- 1 cup (96 g) Powdered peanut butter
- 1 cup (240 g) Unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (10 g) Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (1.5 g) Salt
- 6 tbsp (120 g) Sugar free syrup
- 2 tsp (10 g) Baking powder
Nutrition Facts
------------------------------------------
Servings: 8
Calories: 115
------------------------------------------
Total Fat: 1.9g (2 %)
Saturated Fat: 0.3g (1 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g
Monounsaturated Fat: 0.8g
Cholesterol: 0mg (0 %)
Sodium: 268mg (12 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 24.0g (9 %)
Fiber: 4.6g (16 %)
Net Carbs: 11.4g
Total Sugar: 4.1g
Added Sugar: 0.0g (0 %)
Sugar Alcohol: 8.0g
Protein: 9.3g (18 %)
Total Fat: 1.9g (2 %)
Saturated Fat: 0.3g (1 %)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g
Monounsaturated Fat: 0.8g
Cholesterol: 0mg (0 %)
Sodium: 268mg (12 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 24.0g (9 %)
Fiber: 4.6g (16 %)
Net Carbs: 11.4g
Total Sugar: 4.1g
Added Sugar: 0.0g (0 %)
Sugar Alcohol: 8.0g
Protein: 9.3g (18 %)
------------------------------------------
Vitamin B12: 0.0mcg (0 %)
Vitamin D: 0.0mcg (0 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 103mg (8 %)
Iron: 1.27mg (7 %)
Magnesium: 19mg (5 %)
Potassium: 413mg (9 %)
------------------------------------------Vitamin B12: 0.0mcg (0 %)
Vitamin D: 0.0mcg (0 %)
------------------------------------------
Calcium: 103mg (8 %)
Iron: 1.27mg (7 %)
Magnesium: 19mg (5 %)
Potassium: 413mg (9 %)
Glycemic Index:
20.0
Glycemic Load:
4.7
Instructions
- All 3 cakes will follow the similar instructions. Preheat your oven to 350F, and line a 9" cake pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the paper to prevent sticking
- For v1 and v2, drain and rinse your beans, and set aside. For v3, I simply drained the beans with a fine mesh strainer, but did not rinse them
- For v1 and v2, add peanuts to a food processor, and blend until you have a fine flour, about 1 minute. Don't overblend, or you'll end up with peanut butter. For v3, just add powdered peanut butter to a food processor; no need to blend
- Add the beans to the food processor, and blend until you have a smooth dough. There should be no bits of nuts or beans; this may take up to 5 minutes
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor, and blend until you have a fully combined batter. Blending in the baking powder last, after the batter has already been formed, helps to get optimal leavening of the cake
- Transfer the cake batter to your pan, and smooth out the top
- Bake at 350F until lightly browned, and a toothpick comes out clean. The internal temperature should be around 205F. This took around 30 minutes for v1 and v2. For v3, this took 1 hour, and the toothpick was not totally clean. Transfer to the fridge to completely cool before slicing (at least 1 hour)
Results
v1: Original
The original cake was...fine? And that's coming from someone who generally likes bean cakes. The raw batter was decently sweet, but but had a lack of flavor. It certainly wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Not worth the 260 calories per slice in my opinion. Honestly, I think I can make this taste better for a fraction of the calories, fat, and sugar.
I definitely didn't blend the beans and nuts enough though; I had little bits of bean skins in this cake, and I learned this lesson for v2 and v3. Besides that, the texture of the cake was pretty good, and it even looked, cut, and chewed like a cake. It was just missing some flavor, not necessarily sweetness. I sought out to improve on this in v2 with vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
v2: No Butter/Honey
I learned my lesson from v1, and I made sure to blend until all the beans and nuts were fully chopped up. Outside of the lack of bean skins, the raw dough looked the exact same as the first version, and was less gritty. The raw batter tasted nearly identical, despite the substitutions for butter and honey. It still had that same slight blandness, so I added vanilla and cinnamon until I was happy with the taste.
This baked the exact same; 30 minutes at 350F. I got the same clean slices, but this time with no unwanted chunks. What as different was the flavor; the cinnamon, vanilla, and salt did some heavy lifting here. This cake tastes significantly better than the first. Plus it has 90 fewer calories, 40% of the fat, and no added sugar. That's easily a win in my book.
v3: Powdered Peanut Butter
This version was quite a bit different than the previous one, having powdered peanut butter instead of ground peanuts, as well as less beans, no eggs, and more applesauce. Likely due to a lack of fat in the batter, this cake took 1 hour to bake at 350F, while the other 2 took only 30 minutes. A toothpick never came out clean, and the inside of the cake was "squishy", typical of a bean cake.
Despite this, v3 was my favorite version by far. Firstly, I actually preferred the texture change. While it was different than a standard cake, it certainly wasn't bad. Because of the longer cooking time, the outside was slightly crispy, while the inside had a creamy and set filling, similar to a pumpkin pie or a cheesecake. And because of all the cinnamon and applesauce, it kinda tasted like a pumpkin pie too. There was also a stronger peanut butter flavor from the powdered peanut butter, as opposed to the ground peanuts.
This variation not only has my preferred taste and texture, but it also has the best macros. It's lowest in fat, net carbs, sugar, and calories, while being the highest in protein. "But there's no fat", I hear you saying; that just means I can add a drizzle of peanut butter on top. Problem solved.
TL;DR
- v1: Original variation. Missing flavor, worst texture (didn't blend long enough), and worst macros
- v2: Most "cake-like" texture, no unhealthy fats and added sugars, but still quite calorie dense from all the nuts
- Remember: calories aren't inherently bad, especially from whole food sources. Just something to keep in mind
- v3: Leanest cake with the best flavor, but with the texture of a pumpkin pie
Nutritional Comparison
| Nutrient | v1 | v2 | v3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 262 | 176 | 115 |
| Protein | 9.0 g | 8.9 g | 9.3 g |
| Fat | 14.5 g | 8.8 g | 1.9 g |
| Net Carbs | 22.8 g | 11.6 g | 11.4 g |
| Fiber | 4.1 g | 4.6 g | 4.6 g |
| Added Sugar | 12.9 g | 0.0 g | 0.0 g |
| Sugar Alcohol | 0.0 g | 8.0 g | 8.0 g |
Conclusion
This was a fun experiment to run. Not only because I got to cook a funny and dumb recipe that I loved watching, but because I was able to get a successful product in the end. Overall, my preference is v3, but if you want more of a classic cake texture, I'd opt for v2. Maybe a v4 is in order, where I add 1/4 cup (64 g) peanut butter or something, just to get some extra fat into the batter.
Obviously I didn't go with any frostings here, but I could have easily saved the aquafaba (bean water) and made an Aquafaba Whipped Cream as the frosting. Maybe I could have gone for either Date Sweetened Frosting or Banana Bread Hummus Spread. Or even just try mixing 1 cup (226 g) plain nonfat greek yogurt with 2 scoops (60 g) vanilla whey protein powder, and maybe 1 tsp (5 g) almond extract, for a simple and super high protein frosting. Or just eat the cakes naked, you do you.