Chocolate Cashew Pudding
This Dairy-Free Chocolate Cashew Pudding is a favorite in our home. It involves no baking or cooking and I’m hoping it will become a favorite in your home as well!
This chocolate cashew pudding is a rich and delicious treat. With just 7 ingredients, you can whip this up in a jiffy! And, what I mean by “jiffy” is throw all the ingredients into the blender, blend until smooth, top with dairy-free topping if you like, and dig in!
If you have a good blender, this dairy-free pudding can be blended until it is lusciously creamy. However, if your blender has a hard time grinding nuts, then this dessert might end up a bit “textured”.
But, creamy or textured, this is a delicious, dairy-free treat that we have enjoyed over and over again.
In fact, when my daughter was in high school, the teacher in her home economics class had the students make this dish for one of their demos. She even wrote and told me that she and her students enjoyed it immensely!
*This post on Chocolate Cashew Pudding was originally published in September 2014. I have updated it with new photos and I am republishing it today. The content below is from the original post.*
I have found that sometimes sitting on a fence can get quite comfortable…minutes turn into months…and yup, I am still sitting there!
I got on the fence regarding making a big purchasing decision between a nut-grinding blender or a high-powered food processor months ago! I have been doing so much research…
And, I am still using my no-name, quirky blender. It was getting the job done just fine, which made me just put off making a decision; but lately, it’s not doing so well with nuts.
So, last Thursday, when I posted this Mystery Ingredient Chocolate Pudding, I sure was hoping y’all would see the grainy texture of cashews in that spoonful…
And, Helen @ Scrummy Lane did!!! Kudos lady – virtual fist bump and high fives and hugs and hip hip hurrahs all around!!
To all of y’all that entertained my need for games and played along – thank you ALL!!!
As a kid, my mom fixed me avocado pudding on a regular basis, when I was able to make it for my self I started adding chocolate to it (a few times, I even added protein powder to it and amped it up – so, all of y’all that guessed avocado – y’all were right about most of the chocolate pudding bowls I make.
But this time, after making this Non-Dairy, No Bake, Chocolate Cashew Cake, I figured I would experiment some more with cashew cream, and ooh-la-la – this was one delightful bowl of chocolate!
So sorry to have kept y’all waiting so long for this reveal – I attended my very first Food Blogger Conference on Friday and did not pre-plan a post.
As for the conference, it was AH-MAZING to meet in person some lovely people who comment on here and who I have interacted with online…and…there was so much delicious food…and…so much information…I don’t think 8 hours have ever gone by as fast for me, as they did on Friday!
Happy, Happy New Week Y’all! And thanks again for playing along!
If you love this, then also check out this easy 3-ingredient chocolate mousse!
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups soaked cashews cashews immersed and soaked in water overnight
- 3 tablespoons cocoa or can use 3 tablespoons of melted dark chocolate
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Sprinkle of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup almond milk
Instructions
- Add the cashews and almond milk to a blender or food processor and blend till smooth and creamy
- Add the cocoa/chocolate, honey, cinnamon, salt and vanilla and blend till well incorporated
- Chill for and hour at least before digging into
If you use a vitamix blender, the cashew cream is velvety smooth and creamy; hugely different from lesser blenders.
I love this recipe, and make it regularly. I usually substitute dates instead of honey, but either way works great. After scooping out the cashew cream, there is some left in the blender; I add water, blend again, and now have chocolate cashew milk (which works great with cold brew coffee, FYI).
OH my goodness, I was craving something sweet n’ chocolaty and this was AMAZING. I haven’t actually eaten it cold yet, I’m still waiting (wish I had a time machine to skip the hour!), and just tasting it after mixing- it’s literally brownie batter. SO GOOD.
btw for those making it, you don’t need to soak the cashews beforehand, mine were literally straight out of the bag (I only made one serving though, around 1 cup of dry cashews). If you soak they’ll be more creamy so watch the liquid! Dry it can leave small chunks, which if you like cashews it’s awesome!
Hello Sashi,
This morning I made an attempt with your CASHEW CHOCOLATE PUDDING recipe. However my attempt got only to #1 of the instructions. The cashews were well-soaked over night and drained (I assumed they should be drained although that wasn’t stated in the instructions). I used a ‘Vitamix’ blender into which I put the cashews and 1/3 Cup of almond milk. This powerful blender was able to start processing the mixture but soon developed an ‘airlock’ which happens when the mixture is not fluid enough to keep flowing into the blades.
To assist the mixing I chose to use the ‘pusher’ that forces the ingredients into the blades. This was only partly successful, making a very dense, grainy mixture, not the creamy texture I expected from the instructions. So I proceeded to add the other ingredients thinking the honey may correct the density problem. It did somewhat but not enough to produce a creamy consistency as expected. And I still had to use the ‘pusher’ to keep the mixture moving to the blades.
At this point I decided to add another 1/3 cup of almond milk. That was definitely helpful but not good enough to allow a spontaneous flow of the mixture to the blades without ‘pusher’ assistance. After adding another 1/3 cup of almond milk the mixture became fluid enough so effective blending started to happen. Then at last I could turn it to ‘high speed’ for another minute to get the truly creamy consistency.
After an hour in the refrigerator the mixture is beginning to become pudding-like but I’m wondering if heating the mixture to just under boiling before refrigeration would produce a more pudding-like product.
P.S. In one of your pictures of the pudding I noticed that the photo showed it to be somewhat grainy rather than creamy smooth.
I sampled the product I made and it had a good consistency though still very soft but the flavor was quite acceptable.
Omg this looks delicious. Can I ask what is on top in the photos? Is that also a dairy free vegan cream?? Was wondering if maybe it was shipped coconut cream? And if so do you add anything to the coconut cream to sweeten it or just whip it as is? Thanks!!
Thanks so much Kylee! In these photos the white fluffy cream is indeed whipped coconut cream – I did sweeten it with a bit of sugar, but you can use maple syrup if you prefer. My daughter’s high school home economics class made this pudding and they served it with tru-whip and that works just as well.
This looks crazy good! Especially the icing….whoa ?? I need a big slice!
Shashi, thanks! Very tasty pudding turned out. Very cool photos!
Hi..so I’m looking at making this soon. I’m just wondering how did u get the layered look? Light brown at bottom and the dark brown on top? As you just pour straight from.blender into a glass?
Hi – yes, I spooned the mixture from the blender to the glass – the top is simply melted chocolate and coconut oil or you could use chocolate syrup
cashews are my handy nut all the time but you know what , I never tired anything with cashews yet..uuuhhhh ! I really love this simple yet THE DELICIOUS pudding recipe + it is non dairy too.
i am sure my family will love this.
Such a decadent looking dessert, amazing, my mouth is watering! And I love those little jars, so pretty!