We usually don’t do a big thing of Valentine’s Day so I’m not sure what happened here. Maybe it was because we recently got married or because Elsa has been drawing and folding Valentine gifts (for us!) for the past week. Perhaps it was because Noah slowly has been starting his kindergarten training so we are finally getting a few moments together again without any kids around. Or was it perhaps simply because we have always secretly been dreaming of creating a big American-style ice cream shake topped with whipped cream, meringues, chocolate and the full shebang. Yup, that was probably it.
Luise mentioned the idea of a shake this morning and a few hours later we found ourselves in our living room window, looking at these two shakes overloaded with toppings and surrounded by a million small pieces of nuts, crushed meringues and chocolate spread. As naughty as they look, these shakes are made with real ingredients. They even has beetroot in them. And they are entirely vegan.
The base is a deliciously thick nice cream made with frozen bananas, frozen raspberries, dates, nut milk ice cubes and beetroot. Because we wanted it thick, you need a strong blender or food processor to get it smooth. But you can also just replace some of the frozen ingredients with thawed to make it more like a smoothie and easier to blend. We top it with vegan meringues (which we happened to have at home), whipped coconut cream, melted dark vegan chocolate, chopped hazelnuts, raspberries and a dusting of cacao powder.
So you know what you need to do tomorrow. Whip these babies up for your partner, parent, friend, pet or someone else you love. We shared these with our kids. Their eyeballs almost popped when they saw them and as soon as the first layer of topping was gone, we filled up with more. As shall you.
Big love!
David, Luise and the gang
Love Shake
Serves 2
It’s easy to make vegan meringues using aquafaba but if you are not vegan, you can of course just buy or make regular meringues. Or skip them.
Raspberry & Beetroot Nice Cream
50 g /1/2 cup grated raw beetroot
225 g / 2 cups frozen raspberries
4 soft dates
2 frozen bananas
1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
5 coconut milk ice cubes (or other nut milk)
Topping
100 g / 3 1/2 oz dark chocolate
3 tbsp hazelnuts
250 ml / 1 cup whipped coconut cream (instructions here) or regular whipped cream
a handful fresh (or frozen and thawed) raspberries
1 tsp cacao powder
4-5 vegan meringues or regular
Melt chocolate over a water bath and chop the hazelnuts finely. Dip the rim of two glasses in the chocolate and then in the nuts. Place the glass in the freezer so the chocolate will set while preparing the smoothie.
Add all nice cream ingredients to a high-speed blender or food processor. Mix and mash using the tamper until everything is smooth, thick and creamy. Add an extra splash nut milk to the blender if needed to loosen up. Drizzle melted dark chocolate inside the glasses and spoon in the smoothie/nice cream. Top generously with whipped coconut cream, raspberries, chopped nuts and more melted chocolate. Sprinkle with cacao powder and crush a few meringues on top.
Dive in!
If you are in the mood for more vegan chocolate treats, check out this aquafaba chocolate mousse that we just posted on our youtube channel.
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