A creamy, fudgy, decadent vegan ice cream cake recipe. Layers of coconut milk ice cream, hot fudge and caramel sit on top of a “fauxreo” chocolate crust, topped with fluffy coconut whipped cream. It’s made with wholesome ingredients and free from gluten, grains, refined sugar, and dairy.
I’ve never really loved ice cream cake. I’d always be disappointed
I thought recently- I bet I could make a bomb homemade ice cream cake that would be tastier and healthier. It sounded like a lofty goal, but I love a cooking challenge.
So here it is, my wholesome, dairy-free, FREAKING DELICIOUS ice cream cake. Let me tell you, it’s way better than the ice cream cakes you’ve probably experienced in the past and WAY more wholesome.
Vegan Ice Cream Cake Recipe Ingredients:
Fauxreo Crust: Instead of the traditional crispy, crunchy chocolate crust I made a “
Ice-Cream: This vegan, dairy-free ice cream is as pure as you can get and super easy to make. It’s simply canned coconut milk, pure maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt whipped up in under 30 minutes in your ice cream maker. Alternatively, you can pour it into ice cube trays overnight and blend it into a creamy soft serve the next day.
Hot fudge: A good ice cream cake needs hot fudge, at least in my opinion. You’ll be making a batch of my vegan hot fudge recipe. This hot fudge is dairy-free and sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar. It has a rich chocolate flavor brought out by the cacao powder. It’s super creamy from the raw cacao butter and coconut milk, which are packed with healthy fats.
Caramel: Ah my favorite layer. My vegan caramel recipe only has three ingredients – and they’re all from coconut (plus a little salt)! Coconut cream and coconut sugar (plus a little salt) come together to create a sweet, thick, stretchy, creamy caramel that you can put on literally everything. It’s wholesome and tastes nothing short of incredibly delicious!
Coconut whipped cream: This easy to make coconut whipped cream is made from a can of chilled coconut milk and is lightly flavored with maple syrup and vanilla. It adds lightness to the dense crust and rich sauces.
P.S. Considering how many times I’ve said coconut in this blog post I’m thinking this recipe should more accurately be called “coconut ice cream cake”. But while the coconut flavor is
Substitutions/Modifications
This ice cream cake is highly customizable!
Ice-cream flavor: You can experiment with a variety of ice cream flavors. Try adding in coffee, fresh mint, chocolate chips, pistachios, almond butter – whatever you like!
Base: If you want to experiment with a different base, try these brownies or making a cookie cake base. Let me know how it goes!
Store bought ingredients: This recipe is a little bit labor intensive so feel free to use store bought hot fudge, caramel, vegan ice cream, or coconut whipped cream.
Let me know in the comments below how your recipe turned out and tag me in pictures of your creations on instagram @wholesomehedonista!
Vegan Ice Cream Cake (Gluten-free, Paleo)
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
Ice Cream
- 2 cups coconut milk canned, full fat
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Fudge
- 1 cup coconut cream white hardened cream top only
- 1/4 cup cacao butter
- 3/4 cup cacao powder
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Caramel
- 1 cup coconut cream hardened cream top only
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Coconut Whipped Cream
- 2-3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 13.5 oz can chilled coconut milk hardened white cream only
Chocolate "fauxreo" crust
- 1 cup pecans or hazelnuts raw
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1 tablespoon nut butter of choice I used cashew butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
Instructions
Ice Cream
- Pour coconut milk, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla into a large bowl.
- Whisk until combined.
- Transfer to an ice-cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions (mine took about 28 minutes).
- Pour and spread onto prepared crust and chill for a few hours until firm.
Crust
- Put all crust ingredients into the bowl of food processor.
- Pulse until ingredients are well combined* (see notes below)
- Pour mixture into an 8×8 baking dish, pressing it down with a rubber spatula or your hands.
- Chill in the fridge or freezer while you prepare the rest of the ice cream cake.
Fudge
- Melt together coconut cream and cacao butter together in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Before fully melted, add in cacao powder and whisk together.
- Continue to melt the three ingridients together for a few minutes.
- Then add in sugar and salt and continue whisking until the mixture begins to bubble (about 5 minutes).
- Remove from the heat and whisk in vanilla extract.
- Let cool at room temperature until ready to use.
Caramel
- Place all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan and melt together over medium high heat, stirring frequently until mixture starts to boil/bubble (about 6-8 minutes or so).
- Once the mixture starts bubbling, continue to stir CONSTANTLY until mixture thickens significantly (about 5-10 minutes)
- Remove from heat and let cool at room temperature until ready to use.
Coconut Whipped Cream
- 10 minutes before whipping, place bowl in the freezer to chill.
- When ready, remove bowl from freezer, and pour in chilled coconut milk (hardened white cream only not the liquid).
- Whip for about 30 seconds then add in optional flavorings like vanilla extract and/or sweetener of your choice
- Continue whipping until light and fluffy -about 1-2 more minutes.
Assembly
- First, make your ice cream according to manufacturers instructions in your ice cream maker (mine took about 25 minutes).
- While your ice cream is churning, make your crust. Chill it in the freezer until ice cream is done. When ice cream is finished churning, pour mixture into prepared baking dish and freeze for a few hours until set.
- While the ice cream is chilling, make fudge and caramel. Reserve both at room temperature to cool while ice cream is chilling.
- Remove ice cream from freezer and pour caramel over it evenly, reserving some to drizze on top. Return to freezer for about 20 minutes until set.
- Next spread cooled hot fudge mixture over ice cream cake, reserving some to drizzle on top. Return to freezer while you whip coconut cream.
- Remove ice cream pan from freezer and thaw for about 10-20 minutes in the refridgerator or 5-10 minutes on the counter.
- Right before serving, top with prepared coconut whipped cream and reserved caramel and hot fudge sauces.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Info: Serving size 1/16 of ice cream cake. Calories per serving: 772. Fat: 38.7g. Carbs: 114.4g. Fiber: 7.8g. Sugars: 98.2 g. Protein: 7.2g.