Delicious gluten free chocolate cake

So, I think I'm going to be buying a lot more garbanzo beans.  They are the secret ingredient in this gluten free chocolate cake.  It is so yummy.  Very moist - just perfect texture and not a bit of flour of any kind.  The whole cake is actually made in a blender.  WOW.  I decided this could easily become a breakfast muffin without the frosting - why not.   They have to be equally as healthy as the sweet potato "muffins" I made the other day - they have less sugar.  (OK, but they do have chocolate chips which I guess does add some extra sugar.)  Anyway, definitely worth a try, and has to be way more healthy than regular chocolate cake.  

The recipe is from Recipe Shoebox,  love that site but she got it from Mirien's kitchen.  I wasn't a huge fan of the frosting that went on the cake.  It needed a bit more milk.  I added a bit, but not enough.  It was still quite thick, but I used it that way.  I should have added more milk.  It was a bit too sweet/grainy/powdered sugary - maybe a bit more cocoa next time?  Definitely a bit more milk.  Usually I just make up my own frosting.  Don't know why I decided to actually follow a recipe here.  I did not do the white chocolate chip glaze although it would make for a pretty cupcake.  Check out her site for that.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups semi sweet or dark chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
• 2 cans (15 oz) garbanzo beans (chick peas) rinsed and drained
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup splenda (I'll go 3/4 and 3/4 next time but I'm low on splenda)
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (I didn't have a lemon so I actually used a lime - you can't taste it.)
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar 
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. In a small bowl, melt the choclate in the microwave for about 2 minutes on 50% power stirring frequently until smooth.  (It took me 2 1/2 and I only stirred after 2 minutes and 2 1/2 minutes.)  
2. In a blender, blend the beans and eggs until creamy.  Add remaining ingredients including melted chocolate and blend well.  (If your blender isn't big enough, just mix everything in a bowl.
3. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 X 13 baking pan (I thought it was hilarious that it called for a greased and floured pan in a gluten free recipe.  I just greased my pan well with cooking spray and had zero problems with stickage.)  Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out with moist crumbs - DO NOT Overbake (I cooked mine for 45 minutes and there were no real crumbs left, but at 40 I thought there were too many.  It was absolutely perfect at 45.  Moist and delicious.)  For cupcakes bake for 20-25 minutes (looks like it would make 20-24 cupcakes.)  
4. When cool, frost.  To make frosting - beat all ingredients until creamy and spreadable. - or make up your own.  I probably will next time.  I want to try this with peanut butter frosting.