Protein Brownies / chocolate cake

One of the things I enjoy most is something sweet after ive eaten. Being on both a clean eating and high protein nutritional programme I wanted to come up with something which satisfied my sweet tooth, fulfilled some of my protein quota, whilst being sugar, wheat and dairy free. I came up with this recipe using black beans which are high in plant based protein. So now I can have guilt free desert, perfect post gym, they double up as a protein bar. You can make this into one large cake and use the chocolate mousse (separate recipe in this section) to fill the cake for a totally clean chocolate fudge cake.


I put all the ingredients into my fitness pal app which I recommend getting if you don't have it. and if you cut these into 10 they are 78 calories and 6g protein each.

Chocolate brownie protein bar

10 bars

1 tin drained black beans

3 tbsp raw cacao or 50g of melted 85% cocoa chocolate
7 tbsp chocolate protein powder (45g)
Pinch of salt
75g pure maple syrup  or raw honey
coconut oil (35g) melted
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder


Method: preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (180) or lower for fan. grease and line a small 7 inch square tin (they'll be thinner if you use a larger tin, or you can double the recipe, use a larger tin and freeze some)


Simply blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth, spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes, they will be slightly firm but will firm up more once cooled, a bit like a sponge cake when cooked.


cut and keep in the fridge in an airtight container.


top with coconut oil and natural peanut butter, top with the  clean chocolate mousse frosting (separate recipe) or eat on its own.