Creamy vegan chocolate ice cream

Kip

16 years ago

My partner, a lifelong chocolate devotee, loves this vegan chocolate ice cream. It's got a hefty fatty texture and bold cocoa flavour.

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Vegan chocolate ice cream

I first posted this recipe in 2010 and now, in 2026 (eff me, time flies), I'm updated it to be less faffy and more straightforward.

Small silver cup with a few scoops of rich brown chocolate ice cream. The cup sits on a texture white surface, against a split colour background of pink and purple — Creamy vegan chocolate ice cream

You might be surprised by how much body cashews add to ice cream. This isn't an original concept as many a dairy free soul has discovered the value of nuts as an ice cream base, but I'm all about spreading the love. If you love dense, rich chocolate treats, this recipe is for you.

I love this chocolate ice cream topped with Bryanna Clark Grogan's marshie fluff (thanks, Bryanna). It requires a specialist ingredient called VersaWhip 600k, but it's easy to work with and makes incredibly stable foams, with a greater strength than aquafaba and egg whites.

Vegan chocolate ice cream

This cashew based vegan chocolate ice cream recipe results in a hyper rich treat for all chocolate lovers out there. The recipe doesn't make a huge quantity, so you may wish you double it if you're serving more than 2 people

Servings 500 millilitres

Ingredients

350 millilitres water
150 grams cashews very heaped 1 cup
25 grams cocoa powder Â¼ cup
100 grams sugar
14 grams liquid glucose 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Blend around 300 millilitres of the water, cashews, and cocoa powder in a high powered (preferably vortex style) blender until smooth and lump free. If your blender isn't very powerful, you may find it helpful to soak the cashews for a few hours first.
Tip the contents of the blender into a saucepan. Add the remaining water to the blender jug and give it a swish around to release the rest of the mix, which you'll also add to the saucepan. Add the sugar.
Turn the heat to medium and stir constantly with a silicone spatula. The mixture will thicken considerably after a few minutes, at which point turn the heat off, add the glucose syrup and vanilla, cover, and leave to cool. Don't worry if it's lumpy.
Once the mixture is no longer piping hot, transfer to the fridge, covered. Leave for several hours or overnight until completely chilled.
Churn per your ice cream maker's instructions.

Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream

Serves two

Ingredients
- 150g (1 cup) cashews
- 300ml (1 ¼ cups) non dairy milk
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 60ml (¼ cup) agave nectar or other liquid sweetener (rice syrup, fruit syrup, etc...)
- 60ml (¼ cup) maple syrup
- 15g (1 tbsp) coconut oil
- 15ml (one tablespoon or 1 fl oz) vodka or your favourite spirit
Directions/Method
1. Grind the cashew to as fine a powder (or paste) as possible in a grinder. If you don't have one, soak the cashews in hot water for half an hour or for a few hours (overnight even) in the soy milk in order to soften them so they blend smoothly (if you have a vitamix, obviously you can blend diamonds to a fine powder in .000001 seconds, so you can ignore this).
2. In a blender, combine the cashew with all other ingredients and blend until smooth, a couple of minutes. Refrigerate until cold (it will thicken considerably). You can eliminate the alcohol if you'd like, but I always recommend it for home freezers because it helps to keep homemade ice cream softer (commercial freezers circulate air better so it's less of an issue).
3. Use the mix as per your ice cream maker's instructions and freeze.