Dairy-free Black Forest popsicles

You know Black Forest cake, right? That delicious German creation stuffed with chocolate, cream and cherries? Well, this recipe is the same, except there’s no dairy and I skipped the maraschino cherries, which taste like cough syrup. Instead, I used a sour cherry compote and topped it all with dark chocolate shavings. I’m telling ya, this is good.

• makes

  10

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 400 ml cans coconut milk (full-fat makes it fudge-y, but you can use light if you want)
• 35 g (⅓ cup) Dutch cocoa powder
• 100 ml agave syrup
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup store-bought cherry compote or cherry jam (use something with less sugar)
• ½ lemon (juice only)
• dark chocolate, for shavings

Cooling time 30 minutes

Freezing time 3 hours

Instructions

Pour 1 can of coconut milk into a saucepan, add the cocoa and 60 ml agave syrup, and whisk to incorporate. Turn up the heat to medium and let it gently simmer for about 5 minutes or until cocoa is dissolved. Place in the fridge to cool completely.

In a bowl, pour the remaining can of coconut milk, add the vanilla and the remaining 2 tablespoons agave syrup, and whisk until the syrup dissolves. Place in the fridge.

In a small bowl, place the cherry compote and lemon juice, stir to mix well, then set aside.

Now assemble! Get your popsicle (ice-block) containers (10 x 75 ml capacity) and fill one-quarter full with the chocolate sauce, add a spoon-ish of the cherry compote, then slowly and gently pour over some of the vanilla-coconut milk (don’t fill it all the way though). Top any space left with more of the chocolate sauce. Using a chopstick or skewer, make a few swirls. I suggest just one or two swirls – too much and you’ll mix it all.

Place in the freezer and after 20­–30 minutes insert the popsicle sticks so that they stay in place and don’t sink. Freeze completely, about 3 hours.

To serve, simply sprinkle some chocolate shavings on top (warm up the chocolate bar with your hands and use a vegie peeler to shave it). That’s it!

Recipe from Artful Desperado by Gabriel Cabrera, with photographs by Gabriel Cabrera.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.