A rich and creamy vegan ice cream, infused with the superfood maca, and topped with a bittersweet dark chocolate sauce.
If you’re not familiar with veganism you might not believe that you can create a good tasting ice cream without milk or cream, but this recipe for Maple Maca Ice Cream Sundaes proves it. The secret is cashews. Vegans have always known that cashews are an amazing substitute for dairy and over the years they have figured out how to use this nut to impart a rich taste and creamy texture in all kinds of dishes. In this recipe for Maple Maca Ice Cream Sundaes the ice cream base is created from pureed cashews, sweetened with maple syrup and banana, and infused with maca powder, an Incan superfood. If there was ever a healthy ice cream, this is it!
Maca is an ancient root native to Peru and part of the cruciferous family of vegetables that includes broccoli and cabbage. It has long been known for its numerous health benefits and healing properties. With an earthy taste and a slightly sweet nutty flavor, maca powder is a popular addition to smoothies but works well in other recipes too like these Maple Maca Ice Cream Sundaes.
Maple Maca Ice Cream is incredibly sweet, just like traditional ice cream. That’s why I chose to pair it with a dark chocolate sauce. The warm, slightly bitter chocolate sauce against the cold, maple-banana sweetened ice cream is heavenly!
Even if you’re not vegan you’ll love Maple Maca Ice Cream Sundaes and won’t believe how rich and creamy they are without any dairy! Maple Maca Ice Cream gets very hard when stored in the freezer. Be sure to let it sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes prior to serving or soften it in the microwave in 10 second intervals until it is just soft enough to easily scoop.
- 1 cup (5 ounces) raw cashews
- 1 cup water
- ½ banana (2½ ounces without peel)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons maca powder (gelatinized)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- DARK CHOCOLATE SAUCE
- ¾ cup water
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 2 Tablespoons vegan dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- Soak the cashews in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and add to a blender along with the water, banana, maple syrup, maca powder, vanilla, and salt. Process until smooth.
- Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- While ice cream is churning, make the dark chocolate sauce.
- In a small saucepan whisk together the water, maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the dark chocolate chips and stir continuously until they’re completely melted. Reduce heat and simmer until the mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Drizzle chocolate sauce over the ice cream and sprinkle with chopped walnuts
The Dark Chocolate Sauce can be stored in the fridge. Mixture will thicken after being cooled but can be thinned by reheating and/or adding almond milk

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Wow that surely looks yummy!! I totally couldn’t tell that this is secretly healthy 🙂 And I had no idea what maca is two seconds ago. But now it’s something I definitely want to try!
Thanks Natanja!