The ultimate vegan nice cream sundae

An ice cream sundae topped with brownies – does a more comforting dessert exist? Hayley Richards shares with us her vegan take on this classic, featuring swirls of choc-vanilla and banana nice cream with a black bean brownie ‘topper’.

An ice cream sundae topped with brownies – does a more comforting dessert exist? You’ll be pleased to know nutritionist Hayley Richards has shared with us her vegan take on this classic, featuring swirls of choc-vanilla and banana nice cream with a black bean brownie ‘topper’.

The difference is this dessert is packed full of the following nutrients:

Prep time: 5 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients

4 frozen bananas (peeled before freezing)
1 tbs cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla bean/extract
1/2 cup water or plant based milk (eg. Almond)

Method

1. Roughly chop up bananas, place half (two bananas) into a food processor or high speed blender.

2. Add ¼ C liquid and vanilla bean and blitz until mixture is smooth but still thick.  Scrape down the sides if needed.

3. Pour ‘nice cream’ into serving dish.

4. Repeat the same steps above, with the remaining ingredients to make the cacao ‘nice cream’.

5. To make a sundae garnish with chopped up nuts, raw chocolate, coconut, grawnola, fruit, or our favourite - black bean brownies (recipe below).

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 9

Ingredients

1 425g can (1 3/4 cups) black beans, well rinsed and drained
2 x Orgran No Egg egg replacer or 2 large flax eggs (2 heaped tbsp flaxseed meal + 6 tbsp (90 ml) water)
4 tbsp (coconut oil, melted (or sub other oil of choice)
3/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup coconut sugar or ½ cup coconut nectar or other sweetener of choice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Walnuts to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 C.

2. Lightly grease a 12-slot standard size muffin pan (not mini). Thoroughly rinse and drain the blackbeans.

3. Prepare flax egg by combining flax and water in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse a couple times and then let rest for a few minutes. Or use Orgran ‘No Egg’ by following packet instructions.

4. Add remaining ingredients (besides walnuts) and puree for 2-3 minutes – Scrape down the sides as needed until mixture is smooth.

5. If the batter appears too thick, add a tbsp or two of water and pulse again.

6. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin tin and smooth the tops with a spoon or your finger.

7. Optional: Sprinkle with crushed walnuts, pecans or chocolate chips.

8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides.

9. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan. They will be tender, so remove gently with a fork. The insides are meant to be very fudgy.

10. Store in an airtight container for up to a few days. Refrigerate to keep longer.

Hayley Richards is a plant-based nutritionist, author, raw chef and founder of raw foods catering business Raw Karma that supplies food to clients, businesses and events.