Ice-Cream and Giggles

When I saw this post on A Beautiful Mess, I just had to make a vegan version of their birthday cake popcorn that was much, much easier to make, i.e. didn't involve packet cake mix (because: effort!). And dayum, it did not disappoint! I warn you: this popcorn is supremely delicious and addictive! So make sure that someone else is with you when you make this so you don't accidentally eat it all yourself ;).

Serves 4.

Prep: 8 minutes, Refrigeration: 10 minutes. Total Time: 18 minutes.

You will need:

5 cups of air popped popcorn
100g vegan white chocolate
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp vegan butter essence
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp baking soda
Vegan sprinkles, for topping

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan on low heat, and add the coconut oil, butter essence, vanilla essence and baking soda. Once smooth, mix it with the popcorn. Place on a tray, and sprinkle with sprinkles.
2. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes before eating/inhaling.

Remember that vanilla cake batter ice-cream recipe I made last week? Well, I decided to tweak it. In my humble opinion, if any cake batter is the best, it is the chocolate kind. I am kind of a chocoholic (leave anything involving chocolate in the fridge at your peril!), so naturally I had to make a chocolate cake batter version, as with everything, chocolate makes it better. The baking soda makes this recipe so fluffy, just like you would expect from cake batter made from eggs! Also, how cute are these ice-cream cups?! They came with little wooden spoons too, I couldn't resist!

Recipe altered from Munchin with Munchkin's recipe:

You will need:

2 frozen bananas
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp butter essence
1/4 baking soda/bi-carb soda
2 tbsp cacao

1. Combine banana, maple syrup and vanilla essence in a food processor until smooth. Add baking soda, butter essence and cacao until combined. Taste. You might need to add a little more butter essence depending on the strength of the brand you use, as the cacao can overpower the butter essence.
2. Serve immediately or place in a metal tray and place in freezer for 30 minutes to an hour until frozen, though you will need to whisk it every 30 minutes so that it doesn't turn into an ice-block.

Have you ever licked the bowl, spoon and whisks clean after making a cake? Have you ever felt short changed when the cake is baked, and it doesn't taste as good as the batter did? Well, this recipe is for you! When I came across this cake batter ice-cream recipe on Munchin with Munchkin, I knew I had to make it. It is vegan, made from banana, maple syrup, vanilla essence, butter essence and baking soda. Butter essence is vegan, but you will probably have to buy it online from a specialty store, and try and make sure it is a vegan: not all sites or brands are forthcoming in what they put in the essence so you need to be careful. Trust me, this recipe is well worth the purchase of butter essence, and really is the key to creating the "batter" flavour.

Recipe altered from Munchin with Munchkin's recipe

You will need:

3 small frozen bananas or 2 large bananas
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp of butter essence
1/8 tsp baking soda/bi-carb soda

1. Combine the frozen bananas in a food processor until smooth.
2. Add the other ingredients; taste. If you feel it needs more butter essence, add it at this point.
3. Serve immediately or place in a bowl and freeze for 30-60 minutes until hard enough to serve. Add sprinkles if desired.


Optional: I also halved this recipe again and added 1 tbsp of cacao to make a chocolate batter ice-cream recipe! You might need to add a few more drops of butter essence just to get the full hit of batter. I was a little impatient (hence the melted gooey mess of the ice-cream), and served it immediately with some vegan cookies to make a sandwich.