Vegan Coffee Ice Cream With Chocolate Swirl

Vegan coffee ice cream - this amazing ice cream is super smooth and creamy, with a sweet coffee flavour and chocolate fudge swirl.

It is easy to make and contains NO coconut! The secret ingredient to it's wonderful creamy texture is oats!

This vegan coffee ice cream is based on my delicious vegan vanilla ice cream recipe, which uses a base of cooked oats and cashews rather than coconut.

This gives it a more neutral flavour, meaning that whatever you decide to flavour your ice cream with doesn't have to compete with the coconut to shine.

I don't drink a lot of coffee, but coffee ice cream is one of my all-time favourite flavours, especially when it is paired with chocolate!

This vegan coffee ice cream is incredibly smooth, creamy and delicious. It has a pure coffee flavour, and the sweet chocolate fudge swirl makes it taste like a mocha (the best kind of coffee in my opinion).

Cashews: Unroasted cashews provide creaminess to this vegan coffee ice cream. They need to be soaked so they are soft enough to blend up to a smooth cream. You can either soak them in boiling water for about an hour, or in cold water overnight.

Porridge oats: regular rolled porridge oats or quick cooking ones are fine. You are going to simmer them with some plant milk until they are soft before blending them.

Plant milk: unsweetened soy milk is the best option here as it has a neutral flavour and creamy texture. (I like Alpro Unsweetened Soya milk the best).

You can use any kind of plant milk you like but bear in mind that the flavour of the milk will affect the flavour of the ice cream.

Sugar: I use a mix of white caster sugar (granulated is fine too) and light brown soft sugar to add a hint of caramel flavour.

You can use all brown or all white sugar if you prefer; and coconut sugar will also work.

Don't reduce the amount of sugar by much or the ice cream won't be as creamy and it won't taste as good.

*Something to note, some white sugars are not vegan as they are processed with bone char. If you are in the UK then pretty much all sugar (except royal icing sugar) is vegan friendly so no worries there.

In the US I believe you may need to purchase organic sugar but check the specific brand to be sure. If the sugar is made from sugar beets then it is vegan friendly, sugar cane maybe not.

Espresso powder: I use instant espresso powder to add the coffee flavour to this ice cream as you can just add it straight to the blender with the other ingredients.

You could use regular instant coffee instead but you may need to add a bit more of it - just add it to taste.

I don't recommend trying to flavour the ice cream with coffee beans - if you try and infuse the milk with whole beans it is likely to curdle, and adding brewed coffee will make the ice cream less creamy.

Xanthan gum: Pretty much all commercial ice creams contain some sort of stabiliser such as guar gum. This helps to stop the ingredients from separating and keeps the ice cream smooth and creamy.

Because guar gum is not so easy to get hold of, I used xanthan gum which is sold in most supermarkets and does the same job. You can just omit it if you can’t get hold of it.

Coffee liqueur: This is totally optional but a bit of alcohol helps stop the ice cream from freezing too solid (it will still be quite firm straight out the freezer however).

It also adds extra coffee flavour! I use Tia Maria but you can also use vodka instead if you don't have a coffee liqueur.

Vanilla: This adds a bit more depth of flavour.

Salt: A little bit of salt really helps to bring out the flavour and balance the sweetness.

Golden syrup: Golden syrup gives the fudge sauce it's smooth, sticky texture and stops it from going icy when frozen. You can use corn syrup if you can't get hold of golden syrup.

Brown sugar: Light or dark brown soft/muscovado or coconut sugars are all fine. I use dark brown soft.

Cocoa powder: Either Dutch processed, natural or cacao powder are all fine.

Chocolate: I use 70% dark chocolate as I don't want the sauce to be overly sweet, but something like Bournville would also work.

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Make sure that the bowl of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for long enough, mine takes 11 hours to fully freeze.

You need to soak the cashews so that they are soft enough to blend to a smooth cream. Either cover them with plenty of boiling water and leave to soak for an hour, or cover with cold water and leave to soak overnight.

Place the porridge oats in a saucepan with half of the soy milk and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the bottom from catching, until the oats are soft.

Drain the soaked cashews well then place them in a blender with the other half of the milk and blitz until smooth.

Add the cooked oat mixture to the blender along with the sugar, espresso powder, xanthan gum, vanilla, salt and coffee liqueur and blend until the mixture is very smooth.

Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until completely cold; I leave mine in there overnight but it will take at least four hours.

To make the chocolate fudge swirl, whisk together the sugar, golden syrup, water and cocoa powder in a saucepan.

Heat gently, stirring constantly, until it comes up to a simmer, allow to simmer for 1 minute then remove from the heat and add the chocolate and vanilla, stir until smooth. Refrigerate until cold.

Once the ice cream mixture is thoroughly chilled, give it a whisk then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturers instructions until it reaches soft serve consistency.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can still make this vegan coffee ice cream, it just takes a bit more work and the texture may be a bit more icy.

Once the base is chilled, pour it into a large freezerproof container and pop it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so, remove it from the freezer and give it a quick whisk with an electric mixer to break up any ice crystals then return it to the freezer.

Repeat this until it reaches soft-serve consistency then allow to freeze for a couple of hours before serving.

As with all of my recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

This vegan coffee ice cream is quite solid straight out of the freezer so make sure that you take it out at least 15 minutes before serving to allow it to soften up a little.

Ideally you need a power blender (such as Froothie/Vitamix) for the smoothest ice cream. You can still make it with a regular blender, but it might not be quite as smooth and creamy.

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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