Dairy-Free Ice Cream Cake with Chocolate and Blueberries

Last weekend was the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend.  We have a tradition in our house which started when my daughter was quite small.  We were invited to go to a friend's house in the afternoon one Queen's Birthday holiday so I thought I'd buy a cake to take over for afternoon tea.  Being the Queen's Birthday holiday I grabbed some candles and we called it the Queen's birthday cake and had my daughter blow out the candles on behalf of the Queen.  The tradition was born . . . and every year since then we have had birthday cake for the Queen and my daughter has blown out the candles on behalf of Her Majesty!

This year I decided the Queen would have a different sort of cake - a dairy-free ice cream cake with chocolate and blueberries.  The recipe comes from theearthearthdiet.com.  I reduced the quantities to one third of the original recipe and used a 20cm (8") pie dish.  I also changed the recipe a little because I didn't have a couple of the ingredients.  My version went like this ...

Ingredients

Crust:

260g pecans

2 Tablespoons cacao powder

2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

Pinch sea salt

Vanilla Ice Cream:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Chocolate Swirl:

2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cacao powder

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

4 teaspoons boiling water

Method

Crust:

Chop pecans in a food processor, scraping down sides occasionally until evenly ground.  Add cacao powder, pure maple syrup and sea salt and continue to blend.  Press mixture evenly into pie dish.  Place in freezer while you make the vanilla ice cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream:

Rinse the food processor bowl and blend soaked cashews, pure maple syrup and vanilla essence 2-5 minutes until smooth with no lumps.  Pour ice cream mixture on top of pecan base.  Place in freezer to set.

Chocolate Swirl:

In a small bowl blend cacao powder and pure maple syrup.  Add boiling water 1 teaspoon at a time and stir well until smooth and runny enough to drizzle a swirl of chocolate over the ice cream cake.  Pour chocolate in the centre of the pie and swirl outwards to create a spiral.  Fill in between the chocolate spiral with fresh or frozen blueberries.  Freeze for at least 4 hours before slicing to serve.

This is a healthy indulgence, dairy-free and free of refined sugars.  The nuts are a good source of protein and good fats.  The cacao is a good source of magnesium.  The berries are a good source of antioxidants and the pure maple syrup is a good source of manganese and zinc, both of these nutrients serve as antioxidants and contribute to a healthy immune system.

By the way, don't think that you need expensive equipment to make this.  I used a $20 food processor that I bought from Target.

Source:  http://www.theearthdiet.org/may-2014/cashew-ice-cream-pie-with-blueberries-walnuts-a-chocolate-swirl

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=351

~ take every opportunity to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.