Malted chocolate ice cream - this easy vegan ice cream is rich and creamy, with an addictive malty chocolate flavour.
It is easy to make and contains NO coconut! The secret ingredient to it's wonderful creamy texture is oats!
This vegan malted chocolate ice cream is based on my delicious vegan vanilla ice cream recipe, which uses a base of cooked oats and cashews rather than coconut.
This gives it a more neutral flavour, meaning that whatever you decide to flavour your ice cream with doesn't have to compete with the coconut to shine.
It is also a great base recipe which can easily be adapted to create all sorts of different flavours.
This malted chocolate version is wonderfully creamy and chocolatey, with a subtle malted flavour reminiscent of Malteasers.
What Do I Need To Make Malted Chocolate Ice Cream?:
Barley malt extract: This is is a thick, sticky syrup with a delicious malted flavour. It is commonly used to make malt loaf. I picked up a jar from Morrison's but if you can't find it in the supermarket then most health food shops will have it, or you can get it online.
Cashews: Unroasted cashews provide creaminess to this vegan malted chocolate ice cream. They need to be soaked so they are soft enough to blend up to a smooth cream. You can either soak them in boiling water for about an hour, or in cold water overnight.
Porridge oats: regular rolled porridge oats or quick cooking ones are fine. You are going to simmer them with some plant milk until they are soft before blending them.
Plant milk: unsweetened soy milk is the best option here as it has a neutral flavour and creamy texture. (I like Alpro Unsweetened Soya milk the best).
You can use any kind of plant milk you like but bear in mind that the flavour of the milk will affect the flavour of the ice cream, and a less creamy milk may give it a more icy texture.
Light brown soft sugar: Light brown soft or muscovado sugar adds flavour. Don't reduce the amount of sugar by much or the ice cream won't be as creamy and it won't taste as good.
Xanthan gum: Pretty much all commercial ice creams contain some sort of stabiliser such as guar gum. This helps to stop the ingredients from separating and keeps the ice cream smooth and creamy.
Because guar gum is not so easy to get hold of, I used xanthan gum which is sold in most supermarkets and does the same job. You can just omit it if you can’t get hold of it.
Cocoa Powder: A combination of cocoa powder and dark chocolate gives the best chocolate flavour. Either Dutch process, natural or cacao powder will be fine.
Dark Chocolate: I use 70% dark chocolate. As the chocolate is the prominent flavour here make sure that you use a good one.
Salt: A little bit of salt really helps to bring out the flavour and balance the sweetness.
Vanilla extract: A minor flavour enhancer. You can omit if you want.
How To Make Malted Chocolate Ice Cream:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
Make sure that the bowl of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for long enough, mine takes 11 hours to fully freeze.
You need to soak the cashews so that they are soft enough to blend to a smooth cream. Either cover them with plenty of boiling water and leave to soak for an hour, or cover with cold water and leave to soak overnight.
Place the porridge oats in a saucepan with half of the soy milk and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the bottom from catching, until the oats are soft.
Drain the soaked cashews well then place them in a blender with the other half of the milk and blitz until smooth.
Add the cooked oat mixture to the blender along with the sugar, malt extract, cocoa powder, melted chocolate, xanthan gum, salt and vanilla extract and blend until the mixture is very smooth.
Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until completely cold.
Once the ice cream mixture is thoroughly chilled, give it a good whisk then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn until it reaches soft serve consistency.
Once the ice cream is done churning, transfer it to a freezer-proof container and freeze for about 4 hours, until firm, before serving.
What If I Don’t Own An Ice Cream Maker?:
If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can still make this ice cream, it just takes a bit more work and the texture may be a bit more icy.
Once the base is chilled, pour it into a large freezerproof container and pop it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so, remove it from the freezer and give it a quick whisk with an electric mixer to break up any ice crystals then return it to the freezer.
Repeat this until it reaches soft-serve consistency then allow to freeze for a couple of hours before serving.
Top Tips:
As with all of my recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
This ice cream is quite solid straight out of the freezer so make sure that you take it out at least 15 minutes before serving to allow it to soften up a little.
Ideally you need a power blender (such as Froothie/Vitamix) for the smoothest ice cream. You can still make it with a regular blender, but it might not be quite as smooth and creamy.
If you want to make plain malted ice cream without the chocolate, omit both the chocolate and cocoa powder and instead add 3 Tablespoons of melted refined coconut oil.
To make plain chocolate ice cream without the malt extract, omit the barley malt extract and increase the sugar to 170g.
More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes:
- Vegan vanilla ice cream
- Vegan mint choc chip ice cream
- Vegan coffee ice cream with chocolate swirl
- Vegan pistachio ice cream
- Rich and creamy vegan chocolate ice cream
- Vegan peanut butter and cookies ice cream
- Vegan biscoff ice cream
- Vegan chunky monkey ice cream
- Vegan chocolate coconut sorbet
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Malted Chocolate Ice Cream (Vegan)
Equipment
- ice cream maker
- blender
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 cup) unroasted cashews
- 25 g (¼ cup) porridge oats (rolled oats)
- 800 ml (3 ⅓ cups) unsweetened non-dairy milk (soy is best)
- 150 g (5 ⅓ oz) barley malt extract (syrup)
- 100 g (packed ½ cup) light brown soft sugar
- 30 g (¼ cup) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 100 g (3 ½ oz) dark chocolate (about 70%) melted
Instructions
- Make sure that the bowl of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for long enough, mine takes 11 hours to fully freeze.
- You need to soak the cashews so that they are soft enough to blend to a smooth cream. Either cover them with plenty of boiling water and leave to soak for an hour, or cover with cold water and leave to soak overnight.
- Place the porridge oats in a saucepan with half of the soy milk and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the bottom from catching, until the oats are soft.
- Drain the soaked cashews well then place them in a blender with the other half of the milk and blitz until smooth.
- Add the cooked oat mixture to the blender along with the malt extract, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, salt and melted chocolate and blend until the mixture is very smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed.
- Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until completely cold; I leave mine in there overnight but it will take at least four hours.
- Once the ice cream mixture is thoroughly chilled, give it a good whisk then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn until it reaches soft serve consistency.
- Once the ice cream is done churning, transfer it to a freezer-proof container and freeze for about 4 hours, until firm, before serving.
Jen
I am definitely planning on making this (along with many other vegan, no coconut oil recipes that you have created). I just bought the Ninja Creami ice cream maker and so far the results have been impressive. Thanks for creating such delicious vegan and coconut free recipes. Do you think I could substitute date syrup or maple syrup for the barley malt syrup? Also, what would you think of subbing monk fruit/erythritol sweetener for the brown sugar? Thanks!
Hannah
Hi Jen, yes you could use maple or date syrup instead but the malt extract is what gives the ice cream it's malted flavour so it won't taste the same. They are also probably sweeter than malt extract so you may need to adjust the quantities of either the syrup or sugar. As for the sweetener, I personally wouldn't as sugar (whether regular or in syrup form) is important for the texture of ice cream, not just the sweetness, and you may find that it gives it a more icy, less creamy texture. I don't ever use sweeteners however so I can't say for sure how it would turn out.
Jen
Thanks for your quick response. Looks like I might have to add barley malt syrup to my shopping list. Do you also use it in other vegan ice creams?
Hannah
Hi Jen, no, just in this one, it is purely for the flavour. My other ice creams use sugar but you can sub maple syrup instead for those if you want to. Another use for the barley malt extract is my malt loaf recipe: https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2022/01/17/vegan-malt-loaf/