Mocha Magnum Ice Creams (Vegan GF)

Coffee, chocolate and ice cream combine in these deliciously rich and refreshing vegan, no-churn and gluten-free magnum-style ice creams. A creamy coffee ice cream with a chocolate caramel sauce coated in a thick layer of dark chocolate.

Homemade ice creams are one of my favourite things to make right now (ready for when the sunshine returns to the UK). That said, even on a cold day, these ice creams hit the spot, especially if you love chocolate and coffee. Mocha is one of the best combinations there is, so imagine how tasty they are when combined into your favourite ice cream…

These Mocha Magnum Ice Creams are:

• Rich and chocolatey
• Creamy and cooling
• Oozing with chocolate caramel sauce
• Coated with a thick crack chocolate shell
• Loaded with coffee 
• Naturally vegan and plant-based
• Gluten-free and soya-free
• Require no ice cream maker

The best part about these Mocha Magnum Ice Creams is how easy they are to make. I like to be prepared and make these the day before I want to eat them so that I can chill them overnight ready for the chocolate coating and eating the next day. But, you can make them up whenever, and if you start in the morning, you can have these ready the same day.

Let’s see what goes into these deliciously rich and moreish ice creams (or skip ahead to the recipe card):

• Cashew nuts: this is my preferred nut to soak for ice creams as they turn so wonderfully creamy. There is the traditional overnight or a quick-soak option below.
• Coffee: one of the most important parts of the recipe. I used an iced coffee oat drink* which is so delicious, but you can also use regular coffee (or decaf). Make up the 60ml of coffee (with or without plant-based milk although the milkier the better for these ice creams) and allow it to cool fully. It must be cool before adding it to the blender.
• Coconut cream or yoghurt: when you find a really good coconut yoghurt, it is really thick and is very similar to pure coconut cream. You can buy coconut cream as it is in a tin or pouch, or use a tin of full-fat chilled coconut milk and scoop out the cream.
• Maple syrup: for the sweetness and texture of the ice cream. You can also use another sticky syrup like agave, brown rice syrup or vegan honey.
• Coconut oil: make sure this is softened but not boiling hot and melted. This adds to the texture and helps the ingredients to set.
• Vanilla: to add to the lovely mocha flavours.
• Salt: to enhance all the flavours.

Method-wise, simply blend all the ingredients together for the Mocha Magnum Ice Creams before making the deliciously gooey chocolate caramel sauce. Like a lot of my caramel, I rely on a no-date recipe. This one is even more special with chocolate:

• Chocolate spread or chocolate nut butter: I prefer to use a chocolate nut butter as the ingredient list is much shorter and tends to be cacao and nut butter. If you don’t want to make this chocolatey, you can use a regular nut butter like almond, cashew, peanut or a seed butter like tahini.
• Maple syrup: for the gooeyness, see above for substitutions.
• Coconut oil: this helps the texture of the caramel.
• Salt: chocolate and salt go so well, and it adds the classic salted caramel flavour.

Nothing beats an ice cream with a gooey caramel, so spread this into the ice cream moulds (they are easy to find online, and silicone ones are the easiest to use) and then pour in the ice cream. Now for the hard part: allowing the ice creams to set! This is why I like to make them the night before.

Once they have set (4-6 hours or overnight), you can dip, cover, coat or drizzle them in chocolate and anything else you desire. I chose extra cacao nibs, coffee beans and some desiccated coconut but any small seeds, chopped dried fruits, white chocolate or leave them plain will also be delicious.

These Mocha Magnum Ice Creams are a delicious summer recipe that is very family-friendly, too. They are fun and easy to make, with minimal equipment, washing up and time involved, too. It is great to know that they are made from plant-based wholefoods, meaning they are better for you than the shop-bought variety. Most importantly, they taste even better than the ones you buy.

If you are looking for more ice cream and summer recipes, how about my:

• Chocolate and Pomegranate Magnum Ice Creams
• Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Ice Creams
• Chocolate Mango Magnum Ice Creams
• Raspberry Vanilla Chocolate Magnum Ice Creams
• Cookie Dough Nice Cream Blizzard

*Califia Farms (see here)

**If you are using tinned coconut milk, chill a full-fat 400ml of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. Then scoop out the solid “cream” from the top and weigh out 100g. save the rest for other recipes.

I hope you will love these Mocha Magnum Ice Creams so please let me know in the comments below. If you do make the ice creams, I’d love to see them so please tag me in your creations, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With mocha magnum love x