Saturday Special: How to Make Vegan, Sugar-Free Cake Batter Ice Cream!

While browsing Twitter recently, I came across this image for how to create your own dairy-free 'ice cream' at home. I've tweaked it a little to create a vegan, sugar-free option, as well as a sugar-free version with added protein. It's super healthy, can be made in 5 minutes, truly tastes amazing, and is super customizable with other flavours. Read on to figure out how to make it yourself!

What you'll need (makes a medium-sized bowl full):

• 1 and a half frozen bananas
• Pure vanilla extract, to taste
• A Magic Bullet, Vitamix, Nutri-Bullet, or other blender
• Pure almond extract, to taste
• One teaspoon baking soda
• Liquid stevia extract, to taste (I used this one - it's hazelnut cream flavoured)
• Maple flavoured extract, to taste

This recipe is super easy! Just follow the steps below:

1. Freeze one and a half chopped bananas overnight.
2. Put the frozen bananas, vanilla extract, maple extract, almond extract, and baking soda into your blender. When it comes to the extracts, use as little or as much as you want (I used less than half a teaspoon per extract). Obviously, the more you add, the more it will taste like that flavour.
3. Add in some stevia as well. It's a sugar-free, calorie-free plant extract that you can buy in liquid or powder form (I used liquid), and you can often get it in delicious flavours, like chocolate or hazelnut cream. I opted for the hazelnut cream flavour for this recipe, to add sweetness. If you can't find stevia, you can use Splenda for a sugar-free option, or agave syrup for a natural one.
4. Simply blend all the ingredients together in the blender with a few teaspoons of water and some ice. It might take a couple of minutes to crush up the banana, but it's so worth it! It'll turn in to a delicious, creamy dessert with a mousse-like consistency. Of course, you can always add sprinkles if you'd like!

Variations:

Chocolate cake batter: Simply mix in one teaspoon of pure cocoa powder (available at bulk food stores) with the banana, baking soda, extracts, and sweetener in the blender. Now you have a delicious chocolatey flavour! (I recommend making the chocolate version if you're less fond of banana, as the taste of the fruit is much less apparent.)

Protein version: Along with the other ingredients, add in a scoop of whey protein powder. I don't recommend vegan protein powders like brown rice or Vega, as they don't blend as well. I used Isopure's carb-free cookies and cream protein powder. This is great if you're looking to add more protein into your diet, and it also tastes great.

There are limitless ways to make this dessert! You can always add in sugar-free chocolate syrup and peanut butter for another delicious variation. Or french vanilla coffee for a java-inspired ice cream! Vegan chocolate chips are also a cool option. You can go with mint extract and cocoa powder for a mint chocolate ice cream, too. Have fun with it!