After lots of experimenting, I present to you this marvellous apple pecan ice cream cake! It’s yet another one to add to the recent series of raw freezer cakes, and I’m super excited to share it with all of you, as it turned out really great! 🙂 The combination of apples, pecans, cinnamon and gooey date caramel is just heavenly. Although I would rather associate these flavours with autumn or winter times, due to the fact that’s it’s an ice cream cake, it also goes perfectly during the summer! Also I thought that not all of my followers might have summer now, so some diversity in flavours can’t harm!
Apart from that, apples are much cheaper and commonly available than exotic fruits or berries, so that’s definitely a plus! This cake consists of 4 different layers and each layer is great on its own! 🙂 The crust is super simple and you can easily make it 100% raw by replacing the oatmeal with some sort of nuts (why not pecans?) ;-). The vanilla ice-cream layer is really yummy, super creamy and fits perfectly with the caramel pecan layer in between! And the apple caramel layer on top is the perfect ending! All in all, the taste of this cake really reminds me of the creamy cinnamon ice cream my mum used to make for us when we were kids – and I love it! 🙂
I’ll definitely also try to create a plant-based version of this ice cream another time, but this cake already comes really close to the taste. As usual, the cake is
vegan,
refined sugar-free,
and this times also
oil-free,
gluten-free.
My boyfriend absolutely loves this cake and already finished quite a few pieces (he usually isn’t a big one for sweets), so I’d say that it turned out good! I love the fact that there are tons of dates inside, as they are super high in iron, fiber, potassium and numerous of other essential vitamins. As you can see, this one is also completely oil-free, which is due to the fact that I’m trying to reduce my oil intake lately. Usually most (if not all) the sweet treats, whether raw or baked, contain oil in some form, so I figured, why not try to cut it out and see what happens? Turns out it works totally fine! 🙂
I hope you’re gonna enjoy this recipe as much as I do. In case your gonna try it, please post it on Instagram and tag me or #thetastyk so that I can follow all your amazing recreations and share my favourites!
- Crust:
- ½ cup oatmeal
- ½ cup shredded coconut (or coconut flour)
- 5-6 pitted Medjool dates
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of Himalayan salt
Ice cream filling:- 1 cup coconut milk, full fat
- ⅛ cup maple syrup
- 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
- 1 tsp vanilla bean powder
Caramel Pecan layer:- 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
- ¼ natural pecan nuts
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ cup rice milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- ¼ cup water
Caramel apple layer- 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
- 2 apples, cut into small squares
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 5 Tbsp water
- Place all the base ingredients into a high-speed blender and combine. Place in the freezer to firm.
- For the ice cream filling, add all the ingredients into the blender and mix for 2-3 minutes until it reaches a smooth texture. Divide the filling into to equal amounts and set aside.
- For the caramel pecan layer combine all ingredients in the blender and mix until combined. You want to have a smooth texture, but not as liquid as the cheesecake layer.
- Pour the first part of the cheesecake filling over the crust and place back into the freezer. After 45 minutes (or until firm), gently spread the pecan caramel layer on top and place it back into the freezer for 10 minutes. Pour the other half of the cheesecake filling on top of the caramel layer and place back into the freezer for 1 hour.
- In the meantime prepare the apples and place the cut pieces into a bowl. Blend up the dates, cinnamon and water until you get a sticky mixture (doesn’t have to be smooth) and whisk it together with the apple pieces.
- Once the cheesecake layer is firm, gently spread the apple layer on top and place it back into the freezer for 15 minutes or until it's completely firm
- If you wait until it's completely firm, make sure that before eating you let the cake defrost at room temperature so that the apples aren’t frozen.
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Few questions:
You wrote “⅛ maple syrup”, but an 1/8 of what? I’m a total idiot in the kitchen so I really need things explicitly said 😛
Also, you say you can’t eat it right away OR freeze it…so it all has to be eaten in one sitting?
Hey Eric, sorry for the confusion! 🙂 Just changed the recipe to be clearer!
Wow…Mmmm…très belle recette, merci! 😉
🙂 de rien et merci à vous!
Hi Kirsten
What size is the pan to be used? 9″ or 7″? It looks delicious! I can’t wait to make this 🙂
The pan I use is 7″ 🙂 so glad you like the cake, it’s honestly amazing! 🙂
Looks amazing! I just went to buy the ingredients and saw the vanilla bean powder. Is that something you can get at a grocery store? Also, if not, is there something I could substitute it with? I am hopefully making it today or a party tomorrow…fingers crossed 🙂
Thanks! 🙂 I always buy mine in a health store or online, as I want to have a high quality vanilla and not every stores sells it. You could substitute it with vanilla extract (just use less, about 1/4 tsp) 🙂
Hi , it looks amazing, can i use almonds or walnuts insted of cashews ? tks for all your recipes :).
Thanks! 🙂 To be honest I never tried it with other nuts for the filling. Cashews have a very special texture that makes it creamy. I could imagine thought that it could also work with almond. You might wanna remove the skin though and soak them overnight! 🙂 Please let me know how it turns out!!
How did you manage to get this nice crust with only dry ingridients? I had to add some coconut oil to make it stick :/
The Medjool dates make it nice and sticky! 🙂 There is a huge difference in dates however, make sure to use the Medjool ones as they are soft and sticky!
can one use a food processor instead of blender?
For the crust definitely! I personally don’t own a food processor so I’m not sure how good it is at mixing liquids… but if you have good experience with this, give it a try! 🙂
Hello! I did this recipe last Friday, it turned out amazing! I couldn’t find Medjool dates here in Buenos Aires (they’re quite expensive and almost no one sells them), but for the crust I just added a little bit of water and it was great. Thanks for sharing the recipe! My nonvegan friends were so surprised (and ate it all!).
Oh wow! Que padre Ariadna! 🙂 So happy you and your friends liked the cake so much 🙂 I know, Medjool dates are quite expensive if you’re not living directly on the source like I do (Middle East) 🙂 Saludos! xx
Arriving at Step 4 I realised I was supposed to pack the base ingredients down into the base of a pan. What size pan? I had to scroll through the comments to find the answer: 7″.
Great recipe but could have been a disaster for the inexperienced.
Thanks for the feedback! Gonna make it more clear! 🙂
Do you have advice on how long to let this sit at room temperature before serving? I plan on making this for Thanksgiving, I’ll make it the day before 🙂