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A vegan ice cream recipe that delivers! This dairy-free carrot cake ice cream tastes like a slice of carrot cake and is luxuriously creamy thanks to cashew nuts in the ice cream base. Way healthier and lower in calories than cake, too!
Lovers of carrots cake will be obsessed with this vegan ice cream recipe!
Vegan Food Month continues with this ridiculously awesome vegan ice cream recipe! The easiest way to make Vegan Carrot Cake Ice cream recipe would be to add some crumbled up carrot cake, spices, and vegan cashew sour cream into coconut milk or nondairy milk and freeze.
But where’s fun in that? So instead, I decided to skip the pre-made carrot cake part and make the whole vegan ice cream recipe from scratch. It is much more satisfying to be able to create something on your own, right? And this way we also know all the ingredients that went in! So here it is.
The best thing? No ice cream maker needed for this easy vegan no-churn ice cream recipe.
Ingredients for this Vegan Carrot Cake Ice Cream recipe:
- roasted carrots: for this vegan ice cream recipe, we roast the carrots in the oven and puree them with coconut milk. Yes! No need to stand and grate the carrots.
- carrot cake spices – aka. cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves.
- homemade vegan cashew sour cream: thanks to the soaked and blended cashews, this dairy-free Cashew Ice Cream base is luxuriously creamy and super-delicious.
- candied walnuts: roast some walnuts with spices and sugar to get fragrant candied walnuts. They add such a pleasant crunch to this carrot cake ice cream.
- non-dairy milk: a mix of coconut milk and almond milk works best for this carrot cake ice cream.
Tips and Substitutions for this Vegan Carrot Ice Cream recipe:
- I did not use an Ice cream maker and did not add any starch to the ice cream base. Without the starch and no churning, there is a teeny bit crystallization, but there is so much going on in the Ice cream, that it doesn’t bother me. You can add a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch. Mix it into a 1/4 cup non-dairy milk. Mix, Bring to a boil and add to the ice cream mixture for a more custardy, less crystallized version.
- Alternatively, churn your vegan ice cream base in an ice cream maker.
- Add more carrot or spices to taste. You could also use pumpkin spice in this recipe without a huge difference.
- Feeling extra decadent? Scoop some of this delicious vegan ice cream between two homemade cookies (scroll down for recipes) for a vegan ice cream sandwich. Press and freeze individual sammies in plastic wrap.
How to make this Vegan Carrot Cake Ice Cream Recipe:
1. Roast and candy the walnuts. Add oil to a pan on medium heat. Add your chopped walnuts and roast them for 1-2 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the sugar, salt, and spices and mix well. Continue to cook till the sugar caramelizes and sticks to the walnuts.
2. Toss the carrots in some oil and roast them in the oven until fork-tender, for about 20 minutes.
3. Make the vegan cashew sour cream by mixing all ingredients in a blender or magic bullet. Yes, my magic bullet still works fine for small quantities of creamy cashew cream. Add very little water until the cashews are all well blended. A bit more water and it will always leave some cashew pieces. This is of course not a problem with a good blender.
4. Blend roasted carrots and coconut milk and spices. Add candied walnuts.
5. Add the vegan cashew sour cream to the dairy-free ice cream base. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of your carrot cake ice cream base. Swirl it in, but do not mix completely.
6. Freeze the vegan cream base until almost frozen, a few hours. Scoop and serve.
How to make Vegan Carrot Cake Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches:
Soften your vegan ice cream and add between 2 of your favorite cookies to make a vegan ice cream sandwich!
My favorite vegan cookie recipes for making ice cream sandwiches:
- Ginger Molasses Cookies or TRIPLE Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Tahini Oatmeal Cookies
- Soft Pumpkin Gingersnaps
This carrot cake ice cream recipe was inspired by David Lebovitz’s Carrot Cake ice cream and Savory Notes’s Carrot ginger Ice cream
This ice cream is being shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Allergy Free Wednesdays, Ricki’s wellness weekend
More vegan ice cream recipes on the blog:
- Vegan Mango Ice Cream
- Vegan Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Popsicles
- Kulfi – Indian Ice Cream recipe
Vegan Carrot Cake Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
For the Candied Walnuts:
- 3/4 cups broken walnuts or pecans or other nuts
- 1 Tablespoon ground raw sugar or other fine vegan sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger
For the vegan sour cream:
- 1/2 cup cashews soaked
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar
For the ice cream:
- 1 cup chopped carrots, 1-2 inch pieces
- 1 can coconut milk, 13.5 oz, a little less than 2 cups
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup ground raw sugar, 1/2 cup for sweeter
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp cloves powder
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the Candied walnuts:
- Add oil to pan on medium heat. Add chopped walnuts and roast for 1-2 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the sugar, salt and spices and mix well. Continue to cook till the sugar caramelizes and sticks to the walnuts.
Make the Sour cream:
- Blend the drained soaked cashews and all the ingredients with a few Tablespoons of water to make a thick cream. Taste and adjust salt and tang if needed.
Roast the carrots:
- Toss the carrots in a teaspoon of oil and bake at 380 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Bake longer for larger quantity. Roast the carrots till golden on the outside.
Make the ice cream:
- Puree the roasted carrots with one cup of coconut milk until well blended.
- Add the sugar, spices, salt and the rest of the coconut milk and almond milk and blend. Taste and adjust sweet and spice. Pour into ice cream container.
- Add the candied walnuts and fold in. Add in the sour cream, lightly sprinkle some more cinnamon on top and fold in. Do not mix too much.
- If using an ice cream maker, let the spiced carrot puree ice cream churn, then fold in the walnuts and sour cream just before placing in freezer.
- Freeze for a few hours then scoop and serve.
Notes
- I did not use an Ice cream maker and did not add any starch to the ice cream base. Without the starch and no churning, there is a teeny bit crystallization, but there is so much going on in the Ice cream, that it doesn't bother me. You can add a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch. Mix it into a 1/4 cup non-dairy milk. Mix, Bring to a boil and add to the ice cream mixture for a more custardy, less crystallized version.
- Alternatively, churn your vegan ice cream base in an ice cream maker.
- Add more carrot or spices to taste. You could also use pumpkin spice in this recipe without a huge difference.
- Feeling extra decadent? Scoop some of this delicious vegan ice cream between two homemade cookies (scroll down for recipes) for a vegan ice cream sandwich. Press and freeze individual sammies in plastic wrap.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness in October 2019.
Amazing!! As always!! One of the best ice creams I’ve ever tried!! Thanks for your incredible recipes!! They are absolute delicious.
Awesome
This ice cream sounds so delish! What’s not to love about having all the flavor of our fave cake in one refreshing (and healthy) scoop!
This ice cream looks inspiring. IfI use a ready-made vegan sour cream or cream cheese, how many grams should I use?
use a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup cup. you just want some swirls in the ice cream without overpowering it. you can thin out the readymade sourcream/cream cheese with a bit of non dairy milk so that it is easier to swirl in.