Very, very good. A huge hit at a party -- almost everyone had a slice despite the abundance of other available dishes. No one could tell what the "special" ingredient was until many hints were made. I boiled pinto beans in just water until it had absorbed almost all the water and mashed roughly. I added dried pears to the mix and toasted walnuts. I replaced 1/4 cup of white flour with graham and used two egg whites instead of one. I made the glaze from a tablespoon of milk, a cup of powdered sugar, and some lemon and orange zest. I'm making another cake now, but, because I ran out of ingredients, am substituting a lot. We'll see how it goes -- I'm replacing 1/2 cup of white raisins with guava fruit rolls, half the flour with graham, and 1/4 of of the pinto beans with azuki (red) beans. I also added a bit of nutmeg and more cloves to the recipe. Note that standard toothpick test does *not* work on this recipe because of the beans. I initially undercooked the cake and discovered that when I started cutting in. Bake for the full time, even if the top starts to crack. I served the cake upside down -- the nice golden brown, even surface was easier to glaze and so pretty.

This was the thickest cake batter I have ever seen. You can't pour it into the pan. You have to literally just take the spoon and dump it in. But, it turned out well. It's a cross between a spice cake and a fruitcake, both of which we like. It's not extremely sweet, so if your looking for a cake recipe that's not too sweet, this one should work for you. I will definitely make it again.

I was skeptical about a dessert using pinto beans, but since I had a huge pot of cooked beans, I decided to try this. It was great! I would definitely make this again. I used brown sugar instead of white, and liked it very much.

Like a spice cake - but be sure to use mashed or refried beans, not whole ones! Young children really get a kick out of it after they've eaten it and can brag!

Great recipe, the only thing I highly recommend (I took the suggestion of another) is to puree the cooked beans in a blender or food processor. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

To my amazement this is really good! Substituted brown for white sugar and did not have any appropriate nuts so I just left them out. Moist and very tasty-not even a little hint of bean smell or taste! My two teenage sons had a couple pieces and loved it, no idea there was anything "special" about it. They have been sworn to secrecy until DH has some!

I really did not care for this. It had a strong bean smell that I had a hard time getting past. I usually really like both fruitcake and spice cake, which is why I made this. However, it wasn't my thing.

this was pretty darn good.

The best cake I have ever made! I changed the recipe a bit because I didn't have some of the ingredients. I used almonds instead of pecans, omitted the raisins, and used a butterscotch frosting (made with butterscotch chips, milk, butter, and confectioners sugar) for something a little sweeter. It was delicious! Even my 5, 3, and 1 year old loved it! This is definitely my new favorite dessert!

It tastes like spice cake. I made it when my kids were at school and they gobbled it up when they got home.