Dairy Free Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla Ice Cream Cupcakes
It’s that time of year again. When the suns shows it’s bright face for long hours and the temperature starts rising. That means it’s time for Ice Cream. Now I know some people enjoy ice cream year round. Heck, think of the lines you see at JP Licks or at Graeters during the winter. It’s somewhat crazy. To me summertime means ice cream time.
As many of you know, I’m lactose intolerant. This makes ice cream time (I mean summertime) very hard on me. Before I found out I was LI, I was a regular ice cream eater. My dad loves ice cream too and I think that’s where I got it from.
I will admit that there are some dairy free ice creams out there, but in all honesty, they’re just not the same. They lack the smooth creaminess of a great ice cream. So sometimes I splurge a little and eat ice cream during the summer. My stomach reminds me how bad of an idea it was, but it’s always worth it.
When I saw the announcement about the Ice Cream Cupcake Blogging event again this year (check out the ice cream cupcakes I made last year), I knew I wanted to do at least one dairy free version. I went with a classic flavor combo – chocolate + vanilla + strawberry. YUM!
I used my favorite vegan chocolate cupcake recipe for these guys. I made the full sized. Then I used the cone method to remove a large cone from the cupcakes. I put a small scoop of Tofutti vanilla ice cream into each cupcake and then dropped in a frozen strawberry. I threw the cupcakes back into the freezer for a while to let them set while I made some strawberry cream cheese frosting (I just added about 1/2 cup of strawberries to a classic cream cheese frosting).
I wanted to have it be more like a glaze, so I thinned it out quite a bit. Looking back, I think thick cream cheese frosting would have done better on these cupcakes. I’d also use fresh strawberries in the cupcakes because the frozen ones were hard! After a quick zap in the microwave, they were perfect!
I am submitting these cupcakes into the blogging event hosted by Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious. Be sure to check back to vote for their reader’s choice cupcakes. Voting will be the first week in June.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
If Carlos claims this is the best thing you have ever made … I might have to make them tonight!
beantownbaker — February 10th, 2014 @ 9:57 am
Let me know if you do. I was seriously SHOCKED when he said that.
OH. MY. LORD.
Yeah, I can see why these are the best ever!!!! Love Samoas!
I grew up calling them Samoas and didn’t like them when I was selling them, but have since grown to love them. Great twist on a traditional rice krispie treat!
beantownbaker — February 11th, 2014 @ 12:14 pm
I can’t tell if the naming thing is regional or not. I know people who grew up in Indiana like me who call them Samoas. They’ll always be Caramel Delites to me.
they look sooooo good!
Sharing these in my friday link roundup!
Everyone needs to see these!
beantownbaker — February 13th, 2014 @ 8:49 pm
Thanks for sharing them!!
oh jeez. caramel de lites here, too 🙂 these sound killer!
beantownbaker — February 23rd, 2014 @ 12:47 pm
You’re the first person I’ve met who calls them Caramel de Lites too!
I’ve been wondering why they aren’t always called Samoas!
Are the pecans there for the Samoa flavor or just an extra addition?
beantownbaker — March 18th, 2014 @ 8:03 am
They add some texture but you could leave them out if you wanted.
Awesome recipe! Let me provide a little insight to the naming of the cookies (Caramel deLights vs Samoas my wife is a girl scout troop leader). The girl scouts rely on a few bakeries to produce their cookies. Caramel deLights are made by one bakery, while Samoas are made by another.
Just made these – very tasty, but I had a lot of trouble with the caramel layer. It hardened so much, I couldn’t cut the squares. I had to heat them up a bit to cut through the caramel, and then they got rather sticky and did not cut cleanly. Followed directions exactly, not sure what went wrong…
On Sunday nights, my hubby leads a college-age Bible study group and I use the kids/young adults as my guinea pigs for trying new recipes. I made these yesterday and they LOVED them. Thank you for the recipe!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
So glad these were a hit for you! This has become my most frequently made and requested recipe that I’ve made.
Explained well.