Vegan Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, Gluten Free with Aquafaba
If you are seeking a well balanced chocolate ice cream that teeters between sweetly creamy and chocolatey then please move over to the children’s table.
What we have here is an adult scoop with intense dark chocolate flavor and a thick almost ganache like texture A dessert to lick on a sweltering afternoon while hiding from the kids in the pantry.
Dark unsweetened cocoa that hints of August blackberries, floral vanilla bean, a whisp of aromatic coffee and salt.
“When I find a colour darker than black, I’ll wear it. But until then, I’m wearing black!”
-Coco Chanel
My dad had a red haired, willowy, porcelain skinned girlfriend whose lovely ginger head was aswirl with the poems she wrote. There were times when her lips would move like one absently reciting the rosary but I knew she was composing poems and tasting them in her mouth before she put them to paper.
One summer evening in a rare moment of largesse my dad took us out for ice cream. We stood before the counter gazing at the open tubs of multi hued ice creams trying to make our choice. When in doubt I always chose plain vanilla as it never disappointed. This freckle faced girlfriend, Marianne was her name, pointed one elegant finger towards a tub of impossibly dark ice cream and ordered a scoop. She must have seen my curious gaze because she offered me a lick from her cone.
The ice cream was barely sweet and not milky at all, almost coal black with the bitter, acidic, fruity flavors of cocoa powder. I was smitten. I’d like to say I ordered a scoop for myself but I played it safe and ordered French Vanilla.
I will say that I thought about her ice cream the whole time I ate mine. I wondered why I wasn’t able to order such a sophisticated scoop for myself. Was I bound forever to childish banal flavors? Would I forever cling to soft puerile things? I wanted out of the nursery. But the nursery was so comfortable.
That ice cream was fire-engine red lipstick, black stockings, lace bras and kissing a boy under a street lamp. And yet I ordered Vanilla. The truth was I still climbed into my mother’s bed, drank coffee milk and watched Scooby Doo on Saturday mornings.
These days as a woman who has kissed men under street lamps I can put on my fire-engine red lipstick and my red lace bra and eat dark chocolate ice cream in bed while I watch Scooby Doo.
“The air is hot and rich with the scent of chocolate. Quite unlike the white powdery chocolate I knew as a boy, this has a throaty richness like the perfumed beans from the coffee stall on the market, a redolence of amaretto and tiramisù, a smoky, burned flavor that enters my mouth somehow and makes it water. There is a silver jug of the stuff on the counter, from which a vapor rises. I recall that I have not breakfasted this morning.”
-Joanne Harris, Chocolat
Luscious Chocolate Mousse Cake
Dark Chocolate Drizzled Crystallized Ginger Biscotti
Check out my Aquafaba page! For tips, tricks and to see all of my Aquafabulous recipe
Dark Chocolate Satin ice cream made with a few basic ingredients you probably already have around the house.
- 12 ounces silken tofu , pressed to remove the water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder unsweetened
- 1 tsp espresso powder instant coffee or
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 10 ounces dark chocolate chopped
- 1/2 cup aquafaba , liquid left over from cooking legumes
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup sugar granulated white
-
To your blender add silken tofu, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt, instant coffee or espresso powder and cocoa. Blend until completely smooth.
-
Place your eventual ice cream container into the freezer to get it nice and chilled. I have a "real" ice cream container but I often use a metal loaf pan and use foil to cover it. Either way put your container or containers in the freezer in advance.
-
Over a double boiler or in the microwave set to low melt the chocolate and coconut oil together. Stir once melted.
Add the melted chocolate/ coconut oil to the already blended silken tofu, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt, instant coffee or espresso powder and cocoa that is already in the blender and blend again until smooth.
Scrape the smoothly blended contents from the blender to a large bowl and place the contents of the bowl into the refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill.
-
Meanwhile place your aquafaba and cream of tartar into the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with a balloon whisk attachment and whip on high until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the sugar a tiny bit at a time to the whipping bowl. Once it has all incorporated and is at stiff peak stage turn off the mixture.
-
Place the cool aquafaba and cream of tartar into the spotlessly clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk attachment and whip on high until stiff peaks form. This will take anywhere from 5 -10 minutes. Slowly add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time to the whipping bowl. Whip at least 30 seconds between additions.
-
Remove the set chocolate mixture from the fridge and whip the mixture with a handheld or stand mixer until air has incorporated and the mixture is fluffier and a bit lighter in texture and color (about 3-4 minutes). I have two bowls for my stand mixer which makes this part easier. I actually chill the chocolate mixture in my spare Kitchen Aid bowl.
-
Gently fold in one measured cup of the whipped aquafaba into the chocolate mixture until completely combined. Now fold in the rest of the whipped aquafaba and gently fold in until no white streaks remain.
-
Scoop the mixture into your chilled freezer safe container, cover tightly and place in freezer.
Wait about 6-8 hours. I've been known to eat it sooner and it is like a semi-freddo and quite delicious.
Leave a Reply