Chocolate torte is 'deliciously light' if you ditch flour for a popular tinned food

Chocolate torte is the ultimate dessert, brimming with cocoa powder and solids for unbeatable richness. It's simpler than a sponge cake, which can rise unpredictably in the oven. Traditional recipes demand substantial amounts of eggs, sugar, butter, and chocolate to achieve perfection, which is why you might try quirkry alternatives with just two ingredients. But if you want the real deal, this reduced-calorie version incorporates two surprising substitutes.

Dr Clare Bailey and Justine Pattison featured this chocolate torte recipe in their cookbook Fast 800 Easy Recipes, a compilation of swift and straightforward dishes designed to simplify your 800-calorie days. Characterised as a "deliciously light chocolate cake with an ingredient that no one will guess," this torte is also naturally gluten-free and luxurious.

The recipe incorporates two unexpected elements - pitted dates and a tin of black beans - to enhance the decadent filling.

Chocolate torte recipe

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
• 100g coconut oil, plus extra for greasing
• 100g soft pitted dates
• One 400g can of black beans
• Three large eggs
• 1/4 tsp cocoa powder, for dusting

Method

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water - ensure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Alternatively, heat the chocolate in a microwave in short bursts until melted.

Remove the chocolate from the heat and leave it to cool for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190C / fan 170C / Gas 5.

Grease and line the base of a 20cm loose-based cake tin with baking parchment. Add the chopped dates, oil, and black beans into a food processor and blend until well combined.

Separate the eggs, keeping the whites aside in a bowl, then add the yolks to the mixture and blitz until it's smooth and creamy.

You might need to remove the lid and push down the mixture several times. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and 100ml of cold water in slow, steady streams until thoroughly mixed in.

Stir in a heaped tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to soften it; then transfer this mixture to the bowl with the remaining egg whites.

Gently fold in the whites using a large metal spoon until thoroughly mixed. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and spread it evenly.

Bake the mixture in the centre of the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until it has risen and is firm to the touch. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes, then remove the torte from the tin.

Dust the top with sifted cocoa powder and cut the torte into 12 small wedges to serve, each serving containing just 187 calories.