This one is for the true chocolate lovers. It’s grown and sexy, dark, intense and it’s most definitely not for the faint of heart! Proceed with caution!
Why use ackees to make vegan ice cream?
It’s all about the chocolate, the role of the ackee here is purely textural. Its silky character gives body to the ice cream without the need for eggs, milk or cream and make it more full than would using coconut milk alone.
The best chocolate to make dark chocolate ice cream
For the ultimate dark chocolate experience, a combination of dutch and black cocoa powders along with 85% chocolate has been used.
Heat and dark chocolate are an absolutely amazing combination. With that in mind I took this ice cream to the next level! By melting 70% chocolate and adding extra virgin olive oil and cayenne. The melted chocolate was then drizzled into ice cream near the end of it churning. This results in these beautiful irregular bits of chocolate running throughout the ice cream creating an interesting texture.
Why add olive oil to chocolate
To back track and explain the olive oil – along the way I learnt that generally, if you add chocolate directly to your homemade ice cream when it freezes it will become very hard and won’t melt as pleasantly as one would like, however, if you add oil to the chocolate, you lower its melting point so when it hits your tongue it melts in a smooth and silky more desirable way. You would typically use a neutral/flavourless oil but since I was playing with dark chocolate, I figured using extra virgin olive which shares some of the same fruity notes would accentuate the chocolate and boom! It did!
We’ve all heard about slap your mamma good, well this ice cream is “lock your wife outta the room yelling stop lying! good” Hubby was so perplexed by its creaminess, he swears there is no way its vegan, yet IT IS! 100%, so share this with your friends, vegan or otherwise and give this one a try.
What do you think? As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you make this or any of the recipes on this site, be sure to #amazingackee so that I can see your posts across social media. Thanks for stopping by, till next time.
Tools used:
Midnight Silk: Vegan Chocolate Ackee Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 can Coconut milk (400mL)
- 2 tbsps Dutch-processed cocoa powder (my current favourite is the Bensdorp cocoa from King Arthur Flour)
- 2 tbsps Black cocoa powder (I also purchase this from King Arthur Flour)
- 100 g 85% Chocolate (I used Lindt, anything 70% and above should be good)
- 1 can Ackee (about 2 2/3 cup Parboiled)
- 3/4 cup Agave
For the drizzle:
- 100 g 70% Chocolate (I used Lindt)
- 2 tsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (up to 1/2 tsp)
Instructions
- Break of the 85% chocolate roughly and place in a bowl, set aside.
- Place cocoa powders in a sauce pan and whisk in coconut milk, whisk well so there are no lumps. Over medium heat cook till bubbles start to appear around the edge of the pot, it doesn’t have to boil.
- Pour warm coconut milk mixture over the chocolate and whisk till the chocolate melts completely. Pour into a blender then add ackee and agave. Blend till completely smooth.
- Pass through a fine sieve and chill for a few hours till cold.
- Once base is cold, churn according to your manufacturers instructions.
- Meanwhile, melt the 70% chocolate in the microwave, then stir in the cayenne and oil.
- Just before the ice cream is at soft serve consistency, drizzle in the melted chocolate. Don’t worry if it clumps up in sections, just break it up as best as possible when pouring it into the container you plan to freeze it in, you do want the bits to be irregular.
- Place container in the freezer and let firm up a few hours before serving.
- Enjoy!