A vegan take on the classic Aussie Weis Mango Ice Cream Bars! A creamy mango ice cream topped with coconut ice cream perfect for a Summery treat.
If you didn’t grow up in Australia, the Weis bar is a popular ice cream treat consisting of a layer of mango ice cream and a smaller layer of coconut ice cream. The treats are hand held, in plastic packaging and are irresistible! Alas, they are not vegan so I’ve made my own version!
The base of these vegan weis bars
With vegan ice cream, rarely can you get a CREAMY mixture when you simply pour cream into a mould and freeze it. The trick is to use an ice cream maker!
Thankfully, I have a Kenwood stand mixer (not sponsored) which has an ice cream attachment (!!) so I used that to make the ice cream base of these vegan weis bars.
I am all up for simplicity so the ice cream base only has FOUR ingredients:
- Raw cashews
- Canned coconut cream
- Maple syrup
- Vanilla extract
The cashews and coconut are essential for this recipe. Homemade vegan ice cream without those two ingredients is simply not very creamy. I am definitely working on creating a cashew and coconut free ice cream but it’s taking me some time (think more than 10 trials) but I digress.
To make the ice cream base, all you have to do is blend those four ingredients until they are as smooth as possible then pour it into your ice cream maker!
Halve the mixture then set one aside in the freezer.
The vegan mango ice cream layer
Before making the ice cream base, we need to prep the flavour for the mango layer by, you guessed it, blending frozen mangoes!
Then process the frozen mangoes with half of the vanilla base. Spread it into your ice cream/cake tin and wait patiently.
Or scrape the leftovers from the food processor and enjoy!
Once your mango layer is set, go ahead and spread on the coconut layer.
The essentials
I’m always up for shortcuts BUT these are a few *essential* steps otherwise your ice cream won’t be as creamy. I’ve learnt this all the hard way and want to save you from getting a headache in the kitchen!
- Use the brightest and sweetest mangoes you can find! Initially I used a variety of mango which weren’t very golden or ripe. This resulted in a pale mango layer which was overpowered by the cashew coconut ice cream.
- Make sure the bowl of your ice cream maker is FROZEN. If you shake it and hear any liquid swishing, it’s not cold enough. I’ve been impatient in the past and didn’t freeze my ice cream bowl for long enough and it meant that my ice cream didn’t churn properly.
- After you blend the ingredients in your blender, FREEZE the mixture! I also skipped this step before and my ice cream didn’t churn properly!
It might take some time to make this recipe but most of it is spent *waiting*. The actual work only takes about 15 minutes. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Want more Summery recipes?
Check out my other recipes:
This post was originally published in December 2015 and updated in February 2020.
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Vegan Weiss Mango Ice Cream Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (130g) raw cashews, soaked in water to cover
- 3 1/3 cups (800g) canned coconut cream*
- 1/3 cup (115mL) maple syrup
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- 5 cups (500g) mango*, frozen in small chunks
Instructions
- The day before: Place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer. Place the coconut cream and cashews in the fridge.
- Line a 22 cm (8.6 inch) long loaf tin with baking paper so the paper hangs over the sides.
- Thoroughly drain the cashews. Add the cashews, coconut cream, maple syrup and vanilla to a high-powered blender and blend until it is extremely smooth and there are no noticeable bits of cashews. Pour the mixture into a container and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this is important!!).
- Remove the bowl of your ice cream maker from the freezer. Churn the cashew coconut mixture according to your manufacturer's instructions for 30-45 minutes.
- While the ice cream is churning: Add the frozen mango to a food processor and process it until it forms a smooth ice cream texture. Scoop the mango into a container and set aside in the freezer.
- The ice cream is ready when it is the consistency of soft serve. Scoop half of it into a container and set it aside in the freezer. Add the frozen mango puree to the ice cream in your ice cream maker and churn until everything is combined.
- Scoop the mango ice cream into your loaf tin and smooth the surface. Cover and freeze.
- When the surface of the mango ice cream layer has set, spread the plain ice cream on top and smooth the surface. Cover and freeze.
- Freeze the ice cream for 4 hours or overnight. Slice the ice cream with a sharp knife and enjoy immediately. Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
This is really amazing, Mango-lime Slice looks too creamy d
Thanks Alisa! It was so amazingly creamy – amazing what you can do with cashews 😉
can I sub rice malt syrup with anything? maybe honey? Going to make this for my little boy’s bday. Thanks!
Hi Sing! Yes, you can sub rice malt syrup with any liquid sweetener! I hope you enjoy it xo
Thank you for sharing! Do cashews need to be soaked for all the layers, not just the mango? 🙂
My pleasure! Whoops, yes the cashews need to be soaked for all of the layers. I’ll update the recipe 🙂
Hi, Anthea, planning to make this dessert; just one question: do I need to soak cashews too, since the recipe says: “drain cashews”; if I need to soak, for how long? and I believe you are talking about plain untoasted raw cashews? thanks;
Hi Ausra! Oh lovely! Yes, you do need to soak the cashews. Sorry, I forgot to say this in the original recipe so I will update it. The cashews need to be soaked for a minimum of 4 hours. And yes, raw plain cashews. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did xo