Description
Have you been on the hunt for the best vegan chocolate ice cream? Look no further! This ice cream is creamy, rich, and oh so decadent. Perfect for those chocolate lovers out there. No, it doesn’t taste like coconut or cashews. Nor does it for big ice crystals. Nope. This recipe is so smooth, so creamy, and way better than store-bought. Want to fool your non-vegan friends? Then use this recipe because it’s THE BEST vegan chocolate ice cream.
Ingredients
Scale
Cashew milk:
- ¾ cup (110g) – raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon – fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup (170ml) – water (not to soak the cashews with)
Ice Cream Base:
- ½ cup (150g) – granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon – salt
- ¼ cup (60ml) – water
- ¼ cup (25g) – cocoa powder, I used dutch-processed https://amzn.to/3ySXGzh
- 1 tsp – instant espresso
- 4 tablespoons (30g) – cacao butter https://amzn.to/3he1epK
- 4 tablespoons (60g) – refined coconut oil, see notes https://amzn.to/3l2D6rr
- 1 cup (240ml) – coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon – vanilla extract
- 1 box (113g/4 ounces) – semi-sweet chocolate Baker’s Chocolate, chopped https://amzn.to/2WYwwKD
Equipment:
- Ice cream maker machine https://amzn.to/2WYwwKD
- High-speed blender https://amzn.to/3zXdDWn
- Fine mesh sieve
- Measuring cup
- Medium-sized heatproof bowl
- Large saucepan
- Whisk
- Medium-sized metal bowl
Instructions
24 hours before:
- Put the bowl for your ice cream machine into the freezer to freeze.
Cashew milk:
- In a medium-sized bowl, soak the cashews in hot water and lemon juice overnight.
- The next day, drain and rinse the cashews.
- In a high-speed blender, add in the cashews along with a 3/4 cup of water. Blend until smooth and creamy. You are looking for a heavy whipping cream consistency. If it’s too thick add a bit more water.
- Pour the cashew milk through a fine-mesh sieve. This is to get any pieces of cashews that did not blend together. Measure out 1 cup of the milk, you will have a bit leftover. You can use that for something else! Set it aside until ready to use.
Combining it all together:
- In a saucepan, combine the sugar and ¼ cup of water. Place over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is clear. Do not let it come to a boil.
- Next, whisk in the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and salt. Continue to whisk until the cocoa butter and coconut oil has melted. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and add in the chopped chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- To the blender, add the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste to the cashew milk. Blend together at low speed.
- While the blender is running (keep on low speed), slowly pour in the chocolate mixture to emulsify. Continue to mix on low until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Pour the mixture into a metal bowl, and place it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, or until the mixture has cooled.
- Pour the cooled mixture into the ice cream machine and churn according to the machine requirements until you reach a soft-serve consistency. Depending on the ice cream machine, this could take anywhere from 25-45 minutes.
- Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan or an insulated ice cream tub and freeze overnight.
- Scoop and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cashew milk: This cashew milk cannot be replaced with a store-bought product. The texture of this homemade cashew milk is thick, pretty much like heavy cream. This is the consistency you are looking for in this recipe.
- Does it taste like cashews or coconut? Nope! The chocolate is a pretty strong flavor and you won’t be able to taste either one!
- What does instant espresso do? The addition of coffee will help enhance the flavor of chocolate. You won’t taste it at all.
- Why refined coconut oil? First of all, with refined coconut oil, you will not get that coconut taste. So please, make sure the label says REFINED and not UNREFINED. Unrefined will make the ice cream taste like coconut. Secondly, along with the cacao butter, this also helps with the texture of the ice cream.
- I can’t find cacao butter in-store, can I skip it? Unfortunately, no. Cacao butter is a key ingredient in this recipe. It helps create that velvety soft texture in the ice cream. Without it, you’ll get a more icy, almost sorbet-like consistency. You can easily buy this online, check it out here: https://amzn.to/3sYTFIq
- Do I really need an ice cream maker for this? Yes. This recipe is strictly for an ice cream maker. These machines are designed to churn the ice cream, creating smaller ice crystals. Which results in a smooth creamy product. If you really want to try this ice cream without a machine, you can try this method from Binging with Babish. However, keep in mind that this method will take the longest and takes the most effort.
Keywords: vegan, vegan ice cream recipe, vegan ice cream, ice cream, chocolate ice cream, best ever chocolate ice cream, vegan chocolate ice cream, chocolate, chocolatey, fudgy, decadent
