Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a cookie sheet, then slice the eggplant lengthwise. Place on the cookie sheet, cut side down.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked through and very soft. Remove the eggplant and cool enough to handle.  Scrape the flesh away from the skin and puree it in a food processor or blender.  You will need 1 cup of eggplant puree.  If you have extra, reserve it for another use.

Melt chocolate chips over boiling water in a double boiler.

Once the chocolate is melted, add to a food processor or blender along with the eggplant puree, banana, maple syrup and vanilla. Puree until smooth.  The mixture will look like a thick pudding at this point.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the cacao powder, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.  Add the almond flour and salt. Stir to combine the dry ingredients, then add the chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. The batter will be pretty thick at this point.

Spread the batter into the greased loaf pan or portion the batter into muffin cups.  Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes (if using a loaf pan), or 25 minutes if making cupcakes.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the pan, then grasp the parchment paper lining and use it to transfer the cake to a plate.  If you are making cupcakes, carefully remove the cupcakes in their paper liners and allow to fully cool on a cooling rack.

Once fully cooled, garnish to your liking.  You may dust the cake/cupcakes with powdered sugar or you may choose to melt some additional chocolate to drizzle on top along with sliced almonds.  Serve at room temperature and store any extras in the refrigerator.