Recipe: $5.00 | Per Serving: $0.42 | Yield: 12
If you want a rich and dense chocolatey cake, this plantain brownie cake is the one for you. This flourless cake is completely gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, but you absolutely would never know it! It's just so good!
This recipe was originally published in February of 2014, back in the early days of this blog! It's one I've been making regularly ever since. The photos, text, and instructions have been updated, but the ingredients and taste are the same. Enjoy!
This recipe comes together so quickly - just blitz the ingredients up in a blender or food processor and pour into a preheated cast iron skillet. You can mix the chocolate chips in, or layer them in the middle as I've done in the video, reserving about half for topping.
Do NOT skip the coarse (or flakey) sea salt topping! It takes chocolate to the next level.
And, for variations, I wouldn't say no to adding a little espresso powder to this beauty.
We have had this three times over the last two months or so, either nestled into a bento box for lunch or served with some sort of ice cream. You can enjoy it plain as a fun treat, or add whipped cream, ice cream, or ganache for special occasions.
Baking with Plantains
Friends, plantains are amazing at replacing flour. With more and more food allergies popping up, those of us in nutrition have to get creative!
I love using plantains to make baked goods, but they're also delicious turned into paleo plantain pancakes and awesome plantain tortillas!
Often when baking with plantains it's best to use firmer, less ripe plantains to get the best texture. However, if you're making sweets like this, using riper plantains will work.
The riper the plantain, the more banana-flavor in the resulting cake!
What Plantains Should I Use
I recommend using plantains that are mostly brown, but I've also had success with brown-spotted yellow plantains. You want them to be ripe enough that they provide some sweetness, but if they are overripe, your cake will have an underlying banana flavor to it (not that I'm complaining).
This deliciousness is a mix between a cake and a brownie. It's not quite as dense or chewy as a perfect brownie, nor is it quite as light and fluffy as a chocolate cake. It's a delicious hybrid!
What Chocolate Should I Use?
DARK CHOCOLATE IS KING.
In this original post, I went on and on about buying bittersweet chocolate chips instead of semisweet chocolate chips, and that is something that definitely remains true in my kitchen today. I've never met a chocolate dessert that wasn't made better by swapping in bittersweet dark chocolate.
My favorite dark chocolate chips are Guittard (contains sunflower lecithin) and Enjoy Life (affiliate link) (no lecithin). You can also chop up some of your favorite dark chocolate bars if you don't have good chocolate chips on hand.
For cocoa powder, you can be a little more flexible. I've used the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder before, but I typically prefer Equal Exchange Organic Baking Cocoa Powder (affiliate link).
This is great straight out of the oven as-is or with a little ice cream, but it actually changes and improves over time.
When they're fresh from the oven, they're gooey and slightly fluffy. After chilling in the fridge for a few days, they get a little denser and firmer, and some testers liked the cold version even better!
Make This Allergy-Friendly Plantain Chocolate Cake!
I'm always excited about an allergy-friendly cake, and although this contains eggs, it is free of the following allergens:
- dairy-free
- nut-free
- gluten-free
- grain-free
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe - it's delicious!
Paleo: Yes! As long as you're okay with added sweetener, and choose high quality chocolate chips like Enjoy Life (affiliate link).
Vegetarian: Yep!
PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER!
Dark Chocolate Plantain Brownie-Cake (Paleo)
Ingredients
- 2 ripe plantains peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- ¼ cup raw honey
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Place clean but well seasoned cast iron skillet in oven to preheat. (Grease with a little coconut oil if your pan isn't well seasoned.)
- Melt or soften the coconut oil just until it is mostly liquid.
- Add ingredients (except chocolate chips) - plantains, coconut oil, honey, cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt, vanilla, eggs - to a blender or food processor.
- Blend until smooth, using a spoon to scrape it down if needed. Make sure you don't have any plantain chunks left!
- Pour half the brownie batter into the skillet, then sprinkle ½ the dark chocolate chips. Cover with the remaining batter and top with the remaining chocolate chips. (You can also fold the chocolate into the batter if you don’t mind that most of them will sink straight to the bottom.)
- Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. If you like a firmer texture, cook for about 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven, add a few decorative chips to the top, and let cool for 5 minutes before diving in.
I made this. Had to stop myself from eating the whole thing. Perhaps leave out one of the eggs for a more brownie like texture. I'm going to try it with some chocolate coconut cream because chocolate.
Awesome, Sam! I'm definitely going to try it with fewer eggs. Thanks!
Wow looks yummy! I want to try this with no eggs, since my whole family is egg intolerant… have you ever experimented with that?
Hi Lindsay, I'm not sure how well this would work with zero eggs since they also provide some moisture, but you could try it with flax eggs or an egg replacer and I think it might work! I haven't tested that myself though, so please let us know if you try it!