Today I am sharing a superfood sweet treat made with some of my favourite ingredients. We will be essentially making vegan salted caramel chocolates where we are completely omitting the cacao powder and substituting it with ‘lucuma’.
Lucuma often makes a guest appearance in my sweet treats. It imparts a caramel-like flavour, with hints of maple syrup, custard and mango (heaven or what!). That unique combination of tantalising flavours lends itself nicely as an addition to naturally sweetened, superfood delights.
Lucuma is a subtropical fruit that is apparently native to countries like Ecuador and Peru. These days you’ll also find it growing successfully in other subtropical regions. I’ve also heard that in Peru, lucuma is one of the most popular flavours for ice cream – wowzers – I’d love to spend time there and experiment with the abundance of fresh lucuma that can be found there.
Vegan salted caramel chocolates with lucuma powder
Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a region where this fruit grows on the trees, you’ll probably be more familiar with lucuma in its powdered superfood form. This is how I’ve always used it so far. Enjoying it in powdered form allows for a concentration of its nutrients (having the moisture removed). It also means that it works very well where powders are called for (for example in chocolate type recipes).
Lucuma is loaded with antioxidants that help to fight off nasties that might invade your body. It is also full of lots of other wonderfully healthy minerals and vitamins.
It is an excellent low glycemic alternative to regular sugar. I am using it in this recipe in conjunction with coconut sugar (another sweetener that is said to be considerably lower on the glycemic index than regular refined sugar).
Using a heart shaped chocolate mould
As you can see in my photos I’ve produced lovely heart-shaped ‘chocolates’. You can easily find chocolate moulds online (and they aren’t very expensive, especially if you are going to make a habit of making chocolate).
If you do not have moulds then worry not (I didn’t have moulds for years!).
A great alternative to using moulds is to find a container, line it with parchment paper and then pour the melted mixture into that before setting in the fridge or freezer. Once it has set you can just chop or snap it into pieces and enjoy ‘rustic style’ salted caramel chocolate pieces.
I often use a mould to get nice ‘fancy’ shapes if I am sharing with friends or making chocolates to give as gifts.
Ingredients for making vegan salted caramels chocolates?
For this recipe, you will need 50g of cacao butter drops (or 50g of cacao butter, finely chopped with a sharp knife). You will also need two teaspoons of vanilla extract; three tablespoons of coconut sugar (finely ground if you have a grinder or nut mill); four tablespoons of lucuma powder and a quarter teaspoon of sea salt.
Here’s how you make it…
- If possible grind your coconut sugar down to a finer consistency in a nut mill or grinder.
- Chop your cacao butter into fine pieces (this makes the process of melting much easier). You might also have cacao butter drops (in which case, no chopping is required, just measure the required amount).
- Get a saucepan and add about an inch of water. Place a heatproof glass bowl into the pan and then heat the water on low to medium heat.
- Melt the cacao butter in the glass bowl, adding the coconut sugar and vanilla. Mix in regularly over the next few minutes.
- When the cacao butter has melted add the lucuma powder and mix it thoroughly.
- Pour the melted mixture into a chocolate mould or a parchment paper-lined container.
- Set in the freezer (quickest) or in the fridge.
- Pop out of your moulds when set and enjoy!
I’ve created a video with more information. It offers an excellent visual guide to keep you on the right track when you first start to make this. Please watch this short video first…
Salted Caramel Chocolates "Lucuma Superfood Version" - vegan
A superfood lucuma caramel chocolate recipe using lucuma, coconut sugar, cacao butter, vanilla and love, love, love.
Ingredients
- 50g cacao butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 4 tablespoons lucuma powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (or to your own taste)
Instructions
- Please watch the video above for a quick demo on how to make these.
- If possible grind your coconut sugar down to a finer consistency in a nut mill or grinder.
- Chop your cacao butter into fine pieces (this makes the process of melting much easier). You might also have cacao butter drops as i do in the video above (in which case, no chopping is required, just measure the required amount).
- Get a saucepan and add about an inch of water. Place a heatproof glass bowl into the pan and then heat the water on a low to medium heat.
- Melt the cacao butter in the glass bowl, adding the coconut sugar and vanilla. Mix in regularly over the next few minutes.
- When the cacao butter has melted add the lucuma powder and mix in thoroughly.
- Pour the melted mixture into a chocolate mould or a parchment paper lined container.
- Set in the freezer (quickest) or in the fridge.
- Pop out of your moulds when set and enjoy!
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Pin your vegan salted caramel chocolates…
I followed the recipe as written but it turned out more like a thickened frosting than something pourable. What could I have done wrong?
Hi Sharon,
Do you mean like a thickened frosting at the stage where you would put into the mould?
If you follow it should hopefully look like it did on the video, so that’s a bit of a mystery as to what happened with yours. Too thick would indicate there was too much of the powder in there or that the cacao butter started to chill too quickly.
Yes, in answer to your question. I weighed the Cacao Butter, 50g, melted it as instructed, then added the 2 t. of vanilla, 3T of coconut sugar, and 4 T of Lucuma powder, and 1/4 t of sea salt. At this point I had to use a small spatula to spread the “chocolate” into the candy molds. They just did not have the fine smooth finish that would have been produced from a liquid. They were also pretty sweet. I wondered if there was a misprint in the amount of coconut sugar.
I made a second batch and had the same issue. I used “Terrasoul” Cacao Butter and Lucuma Powder, and “Bob’s Red Mill Coconut sugar, and pure vanilla bean extract (35% alcohol). I’m stumped. By the way, I love the heart molds you used; can you share the company that makes them?
Hi Sharon, I know this may be a little outdated but I thought I would reply anyway just in case it’s helpful. I started to get more of a thick frosting too with my chocolate making and tried more cacoa butter and less powder and it worked. I’ve used sweet freedom syrup instead of coconut sugar and find the more you add the thicker it gets. Also to make sure that the mix doesn’t cool too much and that it is quite hot before adding the powder. Other than this it has been trial and error and I still get different consistencies at different times. If you get the thick one you can spread it across parchment paper instead and maybe add toppings, let it set and you get a nice chocolate slab which you can break up. I have the same heart moulds and got them from elements for life as part of a chocolate making kit, I would really recommend.