Home » Desserts » Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
By Crazy Vegan 198 Comments
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Back in the day, when I used to consume dairy, I was also consumed (so punny) with the desire to perfect ice cream making. A lot of homemade ice creams end up rock hard, unscoopable, and speckled with ice crystals. I spent 2 years trying out every method of ice cream making, researching into the science of ice cream yadda yadda yadda. Eventually, I cracked it! I made perfect ice cream! I even invested in a Compressor ice cream machine because I was churning batch after batch for people who wanted to buy some of the crazy flavors I made. And then… I went Vegan. I could no longer use dozens of egg yolks to make my ice cream, well, creamy. I couldn’t use cream, milk, I basically couldn’t use my perfect ice cream base recipe anymore. Bummer.
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I had to make this Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream recipe twice because the first batch wasn’t quite right. Live and learn, buddies, live and learn. After a bit of tweaking around, I’m confident I’ve produced a very creamy dreamy Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream recipe! Scroll down for the full recipe!
Now, just to let you know – this recipe is not one of those trendy 3 ingredient recipes.It has about 9 ingredients in it. But honestly, sometimes more is more. You get what you put into it. 9 is not that many anyway, in my opinion. Especially when the ingredients are the things most vegans already have at home. What I can guarantee you however, is that it will be some of the best ice cream you’ve had, vegan or not.
What I’ve done is I’ve converted one of my eggless non-vegan ice cream recipes into a vegan version with a slight few differences to make up for the lack of cream or milk in it. I use homemade Cashew milk, Coconut Cream, Coconut Milk, Vanilla Extract, Xanthan Gum, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Salt and Instant Espresso. Then comes the magic ingredient – Cornstarch. Cornstarch, along with Xanthan Gum, makes this Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream ultra creamy and ice crystal free. It’s like magic.
As for the Instant Espresso and Salt, DO NOT leave this out! Chocolate recipes always benefit from a tiny bit of coffee and salt. You don’t taste either in the final result, but you will taste it when it’s not there. Chocolate without salt or coffee is like sex without foreplay. Not worth your time. Doh. Actually, sex in general is not worth your time when instead you could be shoving Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream down your gob. The pleasure of a tub of ice cream lasts for days, and you don’t have to bother with the awkward post-sex chit chat.
Now, I make my Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream in a normal Cuisinart tabletop ice cream maker. Perhaps some of you don’t own ice cream makers, but fret not! There is a simple solution. You can make the Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream base, chill in the fridge over night and then transfer to a freezing container. Once transferred, pop into the freezer, take it out every 45 minutesand use a handheld electric mixer (or a whisk if you have arms of steel) to whizz it up. Once you’ve done that,place the containerback into the freezer. Repeat this processabout 3 or 4 times, and then leave the ice cream to set firm for a few hours after before devouring.
Creamiest Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
Crazy Vegan Kitchen
Creamiest Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream - homemade, ultra creamy and scoopable chocolate ice cream made with cashews and coconut milk. Vegan and Gluten Free.
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 25 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Cashews
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- 1/2 teaspoon Instant Espresso
- 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Coconut Cream
- 1/2 cup Coconut Milk
- 1/2 cup Cane Sugar
- 6 oz Dark Chocolate Vegan
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
Instructions
In a blender, combine Cashews, Water, Xanthan Gum, Instant Espresso, Ccocoa Powder, Salt, Vanilla Extract, Coconut Cream and Coconut Milk. Blend on high till everything is nice and smooth.
Pour out all of this mixture into a saucepan, leaving 1 cup of it behind.
To the filled saucepan, add Sugar and Dark Chocolate. Stir over low heat until chocolate and sugar have fully melted and mixture is warm.
To the remaining 1 cup of liquid, whisk in Cornstarch till dissolved. Gradually stream this mixture into the saucepan whilst whisking non stop. Once everything has been incorporated, whisk away until the mixture comes to a soft boil. This is to cook out the cornstarch and thicken the mix. But, remember to whisk whisk whisk so no lumps form!
Once it has come to a soft boil, turn heat off and transfer mixture into a bowl or measuring cup. Cover with cling film and make sure to press it against the surface of the mixture so a skin does not form.
Cool to room temperature and then churn in ice cream maker. Alternatively, if you do not have an ice cream maker, follow steps for manual churning mentioned in my post.
Once out of the ice cream maker, place in an airtight ice cream or tupperware box, cover, and freeze to allow it to further firm up.
Notes
* Before churning, the mixture will be very thick - this is normal. It is just the cornstarch thickening up. Whisk to loosen up first if you think it is too solid to chuck into the ice cream maker.
* Try to not cut down the amount of sugar in the recipe - ice cream needs a certain amount of sugar to inhibit it from freezing rock solid.
*If your freezer is really really cold, your ice cream may need to sit out for 10 minutes on the counter to soften up so that it is scoopable. My freezer is set to a higher temperature, so I do not need to do that.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Comments
Lorena Tuinenburg says
Hi Amrita,I want to try this recipe, but I'm trying to lose weight and counting calories. Is the calorie content correct? Is it really over 3,000 calories per serving?
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Amrita says
Hi Lorena, thanks for stopping by! Ah no, it's 3000 calories for the ENTIRE recipe :) Sorry, the nutritional information counter is a little glitchy sometimes. I hope this helps :)
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Christina says
HiI’ve have a few more questions after making this once.How many mls are labelled on the tablespoons of cornflour used? (Some say 15 and others 20ml)How long did you churn the icecream in your machine? Did you press the mixture into the freezer container or did you just scrape it in? Where your coconut cream and coconut milk left at room temp when measuring them out? Did your coconut cream and coconut milk have any stabilisers in them like guar gum? Many thanksChristina
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Amrita says
Hi Christina, I am currently using US cups and spoons, so it will be 15ml. I churned for about 30 minutes or until the machine stopped as the mixture was too thick. I used a spatula to press the mixture into the freezing receptacle. The coconut cream and milk were measured out at room temp straight out of the can, and they were pure so no stabilisers in them :) I hope this helps and I'm sorry for the delayed response!
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Christina says
Thank you so much Mine was pretty hardEven sitting out on bench for 15 minutes with hot scoop, it gave me a serious work out. I don’t know if me:-Using 20 ml tablespoon for cornflour -Churning for only 20 minutes only cusiniart machine - using coconut milk with guar gum - using only the top part of refrigerated coconut cream Lead to it being so hard ?
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Christina says
Did you use white cane sugar or could I use about her type of less refined sugar? Also, did the tins of coconut milk and cream have any thickners like guar gum in them?
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Heather says
Hi You say in your notes that you use home made cashew milk but in the recipe it says to blend the actual cashews. Please tell me if I have to make cashew milk first or just blend everything as per the method. I'm a bit confused. Thanks
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Dee says
Oh. My. GAAAWWWWDDDDD!!! We've been eating So Delicous cashew milk ice cream for years as our daughter has a severe dairy allergy. She's also allergic to peanuts and wheat. I was CRYING in the grocery store last week (yes, literally) because So Delicious changed ALL of their recipes and added PEA PROTEIN (which many kids, including mine, who are allergic to peanut will cross-react to). I immediately ordered an ice cream maker (I'm also mildly allergic to dairy- hehe. I'm not TOTALLY selfless! :P) and whipped this recipe up. UNBELIEVABLY GOOD!!!! It hasn't even been in the freezer for 5 hours yet (about 3.5) and it's already ridiculously good! Now I'm SO EXCITED to use the "base" recipe and play around with other flavors! Oh! And I only had "safe" semi-sweet Enjoy Life chocolate chips on-hand (no dark), so when I transferred the ice cream to the container, I layered in Torani dark chocolate sauce. YUM!!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!!
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Amrita says
WOOOOOO!!! SO HAPPY TO READ THIS! So glad you enjoyed this, it's made my day!
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Chloe says
Amazing divine ice cream- luckily I realised that in advance and made double the recipe- THANKYOU SO MUCH. Not that it’s proba ever needed, but do you have recipes for any other flavoured vegan ice cream?
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Amrita says
Hey Chloe!! I'm working on a vanilla and coffee one at the moment, stay tuned! <3
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