Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream Cakes

(ad: in cooperation with pandoo)

Ahhh, it’s finally rhubarb season again! I don’t know if it’s the tart flavor or the pretty pink color, but I just love this stalky vegetable. (Hmm, or maybe it’s precisely the fact that rhubarb counts as a veggie, but is actually pretty much always prepared in sweet dishes and desserts like some sort of fruit? Or maybe it’s due to all those reasons combined??)

However, rhubarb is amazing, let’s leave it at that. And also sweet, little mini desserts are amazing, which is why I’ve got a recipe for these super cute strawberry rhubarb mini ice cream cakes for y’all today! (And because rhubarb is a vegetable and this recipe is also refined-sugar-free, the cakes pretty much count as little salads, right? ….right???)

and now here’s the recipe for these:

Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream Cakes

Ingredients (for 7-8 small cakes):

for the strawberry rhubarb compote:

• 1 stalk of rhubarb

• a handful of strawberries

• 3 tbsp water

• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup

for the date cake base:

• 100g almonds

• 50g oats

• 12-15 dates* (depending on the size)

• a pinch of salt

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (optional)

for the ice cream layer:

• 100g raw cashews

• 150g plant based yogurt

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• a pinch of salt

• 100g maple syrup

• some lemon juice (optional)

Instructions: 

1. Start the day before you want to make the cakes by letting the cashews soak in some water in the fridge overnight.

2. The next day, wash and peel the rhubarb and chop it into smaller chunks together with the strawberries.

3. Place the strawberry and rhubarb chunks into a sauce pan, add water and maple syrup and heat them up on medium heat. Boil and sauté them until they start to soften and fall apart. Then let the compote cool down completely.

4. In the meantime add the ingredients for the date cake base to a blender and blend everything up until you get a soft, dough-like consistency. Line a muffin pan with some parchment paper, or use silicone muffin cups, and press the date mix into the individual cups to create the cake base.

5. Now blend up your soaked cashews, plant based yogurt, vanilla, salt and maple syrup until you get a smooth and creamy consistency. If you like, add some lemon juice to taste here.

6. Distribute half of the cream to the cups with the cake base and mix the remaining half with the strawberry rhubarb compote. Blend until smooth once again.

7. Then spread the resulting pink cream onto the cups with the light cream layer and optionally decorate with another pink compote swirl on top.

8. Let the cakes set in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours until solid before removing them carefully from the muffin pan.*

9. Lastly, let the cakes thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving and decorate them optionally with another sprinkle of cocoa powder.

Huh? Dates are also sugar?

…sorry, the connection is lost somehow suddenly…

….bzzzzz…

*Notes:

1. In case the dates you’re using are rather dry and more solid than soft and chewy, soak them into some hot water for about 10mins before using them. If your cake base is still too dry and crumbly, add some of this used date-soaking-water while blending until the mix becomes more sticky.

2. Silicone muffin cups are the best and easiest way to get the cakes out of the muffin pan here. If you don’t have silicone cups though and struggle to remove the cakes after freezing and the parchment paper isn’t helping either, fill a baking try with some warm water and place the muffin pan inside. Like that, the edges and base of the cakes should start to defrost quickly and you should be able to get them out of the pan easily. If the cakes turn too soft while doing this, place them onto a plate and back to the freezer for another couple of minutes to harden again!

Did you make this recipe?

leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @choartemi