Those of you who are familiar with my baking know I am pretty heavy handed with the butter, sugar, eggs and flour. But I LOVE getting creative in the kitchen, and have been tweaking and creating new recipes lately to make them gluten or dairy free, or even vegan, for friends and family with intolerances or personal beliefs. It’s a great challenge to create a dessert that is as rich, creamy and flavourful as its original counterpart.
Some of my favourites include my Gluten-Free Banana Caramel Pancakes, Vegan Raw Cashew and Coconut Protein Balls and my Dairy and Gluten-Free Homemade Nutella.
I’ve also been experimenting with dairy substitutes lately, rotating between soy, quinoa and rice milk in my morning smoothies. I had yet to try baking with them and the kind folks at Vitasoy sent me a few cartons to play with!
Vitasoy’s organic soymilk range is made from organic whole soybeans and are Australian grown. It’s higher in protein than other plant milks and contains all the essential amino acids. Personally the biggest advantage for me is that Vitasoy is made from whole soybeans rather than highly processed soy isolate powder, setting it apart from most other soymilks on the shelves. It comes in several varieties including original, reduced fat and unsweetened.
This chocolate and raspberry mousse I created is rich, thick and creamy and it’s almost embarrassingly easy to make – the main component is only 2 ingredients! I experimented quite a bit with the soymilk and chocolate ratios to achieve the perfect texture. I had a lot of fun eating the “mistakes”!
The best dairy-free chocolate I have come across is by Sweet William and is available at all major supermarkets in Australia. You can include any berries you like in this recipe, or leave them out altogether – personally I think they provide a nice tart contrast to the sweet and creamy chocolate.
I found some edible flowers at Harris Farm Markets and thought it was the perfect decoration! Otherwise you can top your mousse with more berries, chocolate curls and a dusting of icing sugar.
Choc Raspberry Vegan Mousse
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vitasoy soymilk
- 1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips I used Sweet William
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 punnet raspberries
- Edible flowers for garnish optional, but pretty!
Instructions
- In a small saucepan on medium-low heat, combine the soymilk and chocolate and stir constantly until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat.
- Over a medium heat, stir 3/4 of the raspberries with a tablespoon of water, crushing the berries as you go into a thick sauce (you may add a teaspoon of icing sugar if you like it sweeter). Remove from heat
- Push raspberry mixture through a strainer to separate seeds from liquid.
- Stir raspberry sauce and chocolate mixture together.
- Pop a few raspberries in the bottom of each serving vessel (I used small glasses but you can use ramekins, tea cups, whatever you like!) and pour chocolate mixture over the top.
- Allow to set in the fridge for 2-4 hours.
- Serve with edible flowers.
These set beautifully after a few hours in the fridge, and your guests will never guess they were dairy-free and vegan!
If you want to give this recipe a try for yourself, I am giving away a Vitasoy hamper worth $150! It includes:
– 3 x 1 litre Vitasoy milk cartons
– 4 x Vitasoy recipe cards
– 1 x ‘Healthy Every Day’ cookbook by Pete Evans
– 1 x T2 coffee mug
– 1 x KeepCup
– 1 x 250g Global Cafe Direct organic coffee
– 1 x $65 Coles gift card
To win a Vitasoy prize hamper please leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite way to use soymilk.
This post was sponsored by Vitasoy
15 Comments
VEGAN CHOCOLATE THICKSHAKE
1) I keep bananas until the turn black (when they are the most sugary), then peel them into sections & throw them in the freezer inside a plastic zip lock bag until frozen.
2) In a blender: 2 frozen bananas, 2 Tblsn cocoa, 1Tblsn tahini, 1 pinch stevia, 1 cup soy milk, 1 tspn vanilla essence & a sprinkle of cinnamon.
3) Blend & dust with nutmeg.
i love the vibrant flowers! so pretty!
^ oh and i love using soymilk to make almond egg white puddings with crunchy chia topping!
This sounds fab Swah! I’m with you, I love trying different non-dairy milks in smoothies and baking. I love soy milk in banana bread – easy peasy!
I use it to make a tasty custard which I then use to make a delicious bread and butter pudding. It tastes so good the rest of the family hasn’t figured out yet that it’s dairy free.
I love vitasoy :D
It is so versatile and can be used in all my regular recipes without having to worry that it will separate or taste to “soy-ie”
Lovely to use in a home-made custard tart with lashings of cinnamon and vanilla bean!
I love using Vitasoy in muffins. They freeze so well for lunchboxes throughout the week. Blueberry is good but DATE AND BANANA MUFFINS with a crust of sugar and cinnamon on top are my favourite!
I have just found smoothies! (I’m about ten years late I know!) but they are awesome, soy milk, strawberries, banana, raspberries, how awesome (if you use frozen berries, it makes the smoothie really nice and cold).
I’m still not fully sold on the taste of plain soy milk, but it is brilliant in cooking! My favourite use would have to be in banana and walnut muffins!
I use soy milk when I make French toast. When I have my nieces and nephews stay over we always have French toast. We top it with different fruits depending what I have in stock then a little bit of honey or maple syrup over the top. Perfect breakfast <3 delicious!
My mother in law can’t have dairy and she wanted a Crème brûlée for dessert when we went out for dinner one night. When we had her over for dinner next time I made Crème brûlée’s with soy milk. They turned out really well and she loved it. Brownie points for me, woohoo. So now it is a well used recipe and the only thing I use soy milk for :)
I love to make marsala chai. Just stick some cloves, cardamom pods, fennel seeds, a cinnamon sticks and a slice of fresh ginger into a saucepan with some soy milk and a spoonful of black tea leaves and let it simmer. Serve it up with some honey and that is a perfect drink!
I use soymilk while making pancakes, rice pudding and smoothies …
I make superhero smoothie for my son using 1 cup of soymilk ,1 ripe banana, 2 tbs chopped almonds,1/4 cup blueberries. Its very easy and quick to make – just let everything blend in the blender until creamy.
My favourite is supermum overnight oats…
soak 1 cup of rolled oats in 1 cup of soy milk alongwith 1tbs honey and few berries and let everything rest in the fridge overnight. In the morning just mix and eat . this is easy breakfast recipe for me which provides lasting energy.
[…] dairy/gluten-free recipes as well as vegan and healthier options. I’ve made a delicious Choc Raspberry Vegan Mousse, Homemade Nutella and Cashew and Coconut Protein Balls – all dairy and gluten […]