Cacao Fudge Ripple Icecream- vegan

See the chocolate swirls and the fudge pieces?

You won't believe this is vegan!

If ever there was a recipe with the power to convince sceptics that vegans do not miss out, this is probably it. It's rich, creamy and sweet with caramel, chocolate and fudge flavours and a lovely gooey texture that's really satisfying. Despite all this though, the only cane sugar here is in the fudge; the ice cream itself uses coconut sugar (which gives the caramel flavour) and the chocolate ripple sauce is made using agave. I made the fudge myself using our recipe from here,  (omitting the cherries) but you could save time and effort and buy some vegan vanilla fudge. I've tried the one from Sainsbury's Free From range- in fact I got the inspiration for our own fudge recipe from it- and I'm sure it would work really well.

Here's the recipe for you to try; you don't need an icecream maker, but I did use a high speed blender, which got plenty of air in and broke up the ice crystals nicely to give quite a soft finish. It makes just under a litre of icecream, with some cacao sauce left over for drizzling or to use in something else.
About 150g vegan fudge, chopped into small cubes/ broken into small pieces
2x 13oz cans coconut milk
1 3/4 cups coconut sugar
2 tsps vanilla essence
2 rounded tabs cacao powder
2 tabs agave nectar

• Whizz up the coconut milk, coconut sugar and vanilla essence in a blender and put in the freezer until partly frozen.
• Meanwhile, mix the cacao and agave together for the chocolate syrup.
• Blend the icecream again to break up any ice crystals,
• Return to the freezer.
• When the icecream is firm again, carefully stir in the fudge pieces and make swirls of chocolate syrup. (I couldn't wait for it to get firm enough, so my fudge pieces all sank to the bottom of the tub!) Reserve any leftover syrup for serving on top of the icecream if you like.
• Freeze until solid but scoop-able.

Do you have an "I can't believe it's not vegan" recipe in your repertoire that's great for impressing your omnivorous friends or family? If so, do let us know by leaving a comment.