I recently discovered the virtues of cashews in vegan ice cream recipes. Although I love my vegan Ninja Creami recipe, its success is subject to the availability of a very specific vegan cream product. Cashews are much more accessible on a global scale, so here we are making this Ninja Swirl vegan soft serve with a lovely cashew base.
This recipe is very heavily related to my Ninja Creami cashew ice cream but tested for the Swirl machine. It uses the same base of cashews soaked in boiling water and blended with fresh water. A mixture of caster sugar and glucose syrup or light corn syrup create the perfect chewy consistency and texture. Of course, we’re using plenty of vanilla and a good amount of salt to create a delicious depth of flavour.
My experience with the Swirl machine is that any soft serve recipes benefit heavily from the use of xanthan gum. I also found that there was a tiny amount of separation at the bottom of my cashew Ninja Creami ice cream which the xanthan gum completely resolves. So, it is technically optional but I highly, highly recommend it here.
Ingredient notes
I absolutely LOVE a salted and roasted cashew but it is not the vibe we are going for here (yet, although I fully intend on testing it). Because we are trying to emulate a regular vanilla ice cream, we want raw and unsalted cashews.
I know that the addition of glucose syrup or light corn syrup is annoying. However, I can promise you that it works miracles for the texture of a Ninja recipe. Plain white sugar adds sweetness to an ice cream but it does nothing to create a thick, voluminous and chewy texture. Glucose syrup or light corn syrup doesn’t add as much sweetness but brings an amazing level of texture.
In Australia, glucose syrup is the more common of the two. It is often sold on supermarket shelves in the baking aisle. In the USA, corn syrup is more common. Corn syrup is different to high fructose corn syrup, although some brands of corn syrup can contain HFCS. I have tested and recommend Karo brand light corn syrup. Note that light refers to the neutral colour and flavour rather than the calories.
From my research, it seems that the UK more commonly have glucose syrup sold under Dr Oetker in the baking aisle. In Canada, it is more common to see corn syrup (note: not fructose-glucose syrup, which is high fructose corn syrup) sold under brands like Crown White Lily.
Do I have to use xanthan gum in this recipe?
I haven’t tested omitting the xanthan gum in this recipe specifically. I do know that it worked in my cashew Ninja Creami recipe but I found there was a tiny amount of separated liquid in the bottom of the tub. It didn’t impact the ice cream and it was still delicious but it was something I noticed.
So, I suppose my answer to this question depends on a couple of things. Firstly, will a small amount of separated liquid bother you? A thin icier layer at the bottom of the tub that has more of a sorbet-like look? Secondly, are you making ice cream or soft serve?
If you are making soft serve, I strongly advocate for the use of xanthan gum here. It adds viscosity that makes the mixture much easier to pipe in beautifully smooth swirls. Anecdotally, I have noticed that mixtures without xanthan gum tend to pipe up with spiky edges but also in a speedier and more chaotic way. It can be harder to achieve that perfect piped swirl in a mixture without xanthan gum.
Of course, if the aesthetics of it all don’t bother you then you can certainly try making soft serve without xanthan gum. I personally would make scoops with a xanthan gum free recipe for ease, though.
More Ninja Swirl recipes
- Ninja Swirl chocolate soft serve
- Ninja Swirl frozen yogurt (vegan option)
- Ninja Swirl Dole Whip (vegan)
- Ninja Swirl coffee ice cream
- Ninja Swirl vanilla soft serve
Ninja Swirl vegan vanilla soft serve (cashew base)
Equipment
- Ninja Swirl machine with 470ml tub
Ingredients
- 100 g raw and unsalted cashews
- 275 g water
- 60-70 g caster sugar
- 1-2 g xanthan gum see notes
- 50 g glucose syrup or light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Boil the kettle and place the cashews in a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over the cashews to cover and set aside for at least 10 minutes (longer is fine too if it is convenient).
- When the mixture is cool, drain off the water and place the cashews in a high-speed food processor (I use a NutriBullet). Weigh in the water and blitz until the cashews are completely combined and you have a foamy, creamy milk.
- Weigh the sugar into a medium saucepan and mix in the xanthan gum. This helps distribute it evenly so it won’t clump up later. Use a silicone spatula to keep moving the sugar around as you add the cashew milk. Make sure you get the edges of the saucepan as the sugar xanthan mix tends to clump up around the edges.
- Add the remaining ingredients and place over a medium heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes or just until the sugars have both completely dissolved. Set aside to cool a little.
- Make sure the bottom mechanism of the Ninja Swirl tub is closed before pouring in the mixture. It should come up to the fill line.
- Place the mixture in the freezer for 24 hours with the lid off. Leaving the lid off can help minimise the risk of the mixture developing a hump which can damage your machine.
- When ready to eat, process the mixture using the SCOOP and ICE CREAM functions. I always use SCOOP for high fat mixtures as the SOFT SERVE function tends to over-spin them.
- If you’re eating it as a scoop, you are good to go. If you want to make soft serve, swap the lids and place the piping nozzle on. Use the lever to pull the soft serve. If you get an error message, allow the mixture to thaw for 5-10 minutes before continuing.
- If you are making soft serve, know that the machine doesn't process the mixture in the bottom of the tub and it tends to be a bit icy.
Notes
- See ingredient notes in the body of the post.
- Read the section on xanthan gum in the body of the post. I recommend 1g for a conservative amount of piping support and 2g for a good amount of piping support and general viscosity.
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