Banana Ice Cream Cake!

This beautiful madness was born of pure experimentation. I cannot credit the results with any secret formulas or old family recipes. This was a total ‘cross your fingers and hope for something delicious’.

It was actually born out of my wishing for a raw vegan cheesecake but minus the nuts. I haven’t bought nuts in a while. Not for any particular reason other than that they’re expensive and sometimes I get frugal.

So I had a little bit left in a jar of coconut butter (not oil!) and a can of coconut milk that had been chilling in the fridge. Those were my two jumping off points.

Without babbling on anymore, I’ll divulge the entire recipe. This is a great pie to make if you have a bunch of ripe bananas laying around!

Ingredients:

4 small or 3 large ripe bananas, aka very brown and spotty
1 1/2 c very soft medjool dates, about 14-16 dates
1/2 c coconut butter (not oil), softened
1/4 t almond extract
1/2 c full fat coconut cream, chill a can overnight so the cream separates from the milk
1/2 c berries, small ones like blueberries or raspberries
1 c raspberries (separate from the other berries)

[Frozen berries are ok to use]

You will need to use a small springform pan or line a baking dish with parchment paper for this. The smaller your vessel is, the thicker the layers will be. I filled two ~4 inch diameter springform pans and as you can see the layers are very high (about 3 1/2 inches).

Blend all ingredients EXCEPT BERRIES until smooth.
Taste and add another drop of almond extract if necessary, just remember that extracts are potent so only a drop at a time.
Put your 1/2 c of small berries into the bottom of your pan in an even layer.
Scoop out half of the “batter” and pour it into the pan on top of the berries.
Tap your pan hard against the counter to get any air bubbles to rise out. The batter will be thick! I had to tap it down about 20 times to get it smoothed out and even.
Place your pan in the freezer while you make the top layer.
Pour the remaining 1 cup of raspberries into the blender with your remaining batter.
Blend until smooth.
You can add a little coconut milk if it’s too thick. Alternatively you can add more coconut butter or banana if it’s too thin.
Pour this into the pan and again tap it down to release any trapped air.
Freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Thaw for a few minutes at room temp before slicing.

Enjoy!