--- Discover more dairy-free desserts and other great vegan recipes in , Mondays 7.30pm from 19 October on SBS Food and then SBS On Demand ---
Love the rich temptation of caramel but ditching the dairy? The rich, sweet joy of caramel is, at its simplest, just sugar. But many sauces, bakes and sweets with caramel flavours include cream, milk and butter. So to help you out, here we've gathered a brace of brilliant dairy-free desserts that will satisfy any caramel craving.
White miso paste adds an extra complexity of flavour to the caramel sauce poured over Diana Chan's spiced bundt cake, which is made with a double dose of apple - apple sauce and chopped apples - and four different spices.
Vegan apple bundt cake Source: OzHarvest
This rich, silky dessert is made with jaggery and coconut milk. Baked and then chilled, it's a perfect summer dessert, with roasted cashews providing a counterpoint of crunch to the sweet coconut-caramel custard.
Watalappan Source: Ben Dearnley
"This, I think, might be my favourite dessert of all time," says Ian Theasby - half of the BOSH! duo behind four cookbooks, a popular YouTube channel and new SBS show Living on the Veg. He and his BOSH! mate, Henry Firth, whip this up in the first episode of the show. "It’s spicy, it’s sticky, it’s sweet. It’s naughty," Theasby says as the pair tuck into their dessert, a rich pudding topped with vegan ice-cream and an indulgent sauce. The rich sauce is made with dairy-free butter, maple or golden syrup and dark brown sugar (the duo suggest muscovado: "super rich in flavour, with an almost smoky taste," says Firth) and finished with a few spoonfuls of oat cream (as they do in the show) or coconut cream (as they do in their first book, BOSH!). It's silky and rich and completely indulgent poured over the pud.
Sticky toffee pudding Source: Living on the Veg
A nut butter and puffed rice base is covered with a layer of caramel (a simple mix of dates, nut butter and salt) and topped with a layer of homemade chocolate. Keep in the fridge for up to a week for indulgence as desired.
Salted caramel chocolate bars Source: Benito Martin
Rich chocolate and caramel layer over a base made with cashews, macadamias and dates in this no-bake chilled tart. The middle layer gets its caramel goodness from Medjool dates, almond butter, rice malt syrup and a pinch of salt.
Gluten-free salted caramel tart Source: Loving Gluten Free
Get your snap, crackle and crunch on with Donna Hay's no-bake slice, which is gluten-free as well as dairy-free. A glorious mix of fresh dates, peanut butter, puffed rice and roasted peanuts come together at the heart of this easy treat.
Chocolate peanut slice Source: Donna Hay
This double-layer carrot cake by Ella Woodward, from her Deliciously Ella cookbook, is smothered in a super-simple caramelly frosting made by blending banana, Medjool dates, almond butter, cinnamon and a little bit of coconut oil.
Classic carrot cake with caramel frosting Source: Clare Winfield
One of Samoa's favourite sweets, fa’ausi consists of a creamy caramel made with coconut milk, which is poured over cubes of baked taro or fa’apapa, hard coconut bread, which hold their shape when soaked with caramel.
Coconut caramel bread (fa’ausi) Source: Ben Dearnley
Another glorious take on the classic pud, this recipe comes from Melbourne chef Shannon Martinez. She puts a twist on things with a little garam masala in the pudding mix, to balance out the sweetness.
Sticky fig pudding Source: Hardie Grant Books / Nikki To
"Use any nut butters you please, but I particularly like almond and sesame butters together. There's something magical about dates and tahini in a sticky sweet union!" says Renee Byrd of her recipe, which brings hemp and chia seeds and chopped pistachios together in a rich date, tahini and nut butter caramel.
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Hemp tahini date caramel bars Source: Renee Byrd
