quick vegan dessert – KALE MARY | Delicious gluten-free, vegan and (mostly) refined sugar-free recipes

I made no plans with the Easter bunny this year – being dairy and refined sugar free will do that to you. But, I just couldn’t escape the cheer – I was seeing chocolate everywhere. I came home for the long weekend and whipped up a batch of fudge.

On that note, it’s time for me to share my recipe for vegan chocolate fudge with you. This one happened when I had run out of cacao butter to make vegan chocolate and had to improvise. It quickly turned into a favourite.

Happy Easter everyone!

Quick vegan chocolate fudge
Makes 12 pieces

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup cacao powder
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Pinch of salt
Shredded coconut, to serve

Gently melt the coconut oil and butter on the stove. Remove from heat to cool slightly.

Add the maple syrup, cacao, vanilla, salt, cooled coconut oil and butter to a bowl and whisk until combined.

Line a small container or dish with a piece of baking paper (I use a small tupperware container for fudge as I don’t have any smaller dishes). Then, pour mixture on top and smooth with a spatula. Refrigerate for around one hour.

Remove fudge from the fridge and slice into small, bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and enjoy.

Lemons have always been my favourite. Mum said when I was little, I once bit into a lemon like an apple. Maybe that’s what started it all.

The humble lemon tart is something I never thought I would eat again with the eggs involved (not to mention the dairy and sugar) but then I discovered agar agar and wondered if it could just happen for me.

Turns out it could. I started experimenting and here we are with a delicious lemon tart. The lemon component was the easy part. What I really struggled with was a complimentary base that wouldn’t overpower the delicate lemon. It didn’t need a raw cake base, it needed more of a shortbread-type base.

This no-bake lemon tart is incredibly easy to make. It takes about 10 minutes to prep and needs 1-2 hours in the fridge to set. I don’t know why I don’t make it more frequently.

No-bake lemon tart
Makes 9 large slices or 12 smaller slices

For the base
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
3 tbsp coconut oil
Zest from 1 lemon

For the filling
2 2/3 cup filtered water
1 tbsp agar agar powder
1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch
5 medium sized lemons, juiced
Pinch turmeric
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut milk

Mix all the base ingredients together in a bowl until coconut oil is evenly mixed through. Spread out in a lined tin or dish and refrigerate until needed.

Whisk arrowroot into lemon juice then add turmeric, maple and coconut milk and continue to whisk until combined. Set aside.

Add the agar agar to the filtered water and gently heat, stirring until agar is dissolved. Once you have reached this point, add the lemon-arrowroot mix and whisk continuously over a medium heat. After about 8 minutes, it should start to hold together. If it doesn’t, keep it over the heat a little longer.

Pour the lemon mix on top of the base and return the dish to the refrigerator for 1-2 hours until set. When set, slice and plate. Serve on its own or with a scoop of vanilla or coconut-flavoured ice cream.