Fran Costigan’s vegan chocolate ice cream shell couldn’t be easier to make, and it’s a delicious way to embellish your favorite kind of store-bought or homemade vegan ice cream.
This magic ice cream topping is hard but slightly chewy. It’s super simple to make, and requires only three ingredients — chocolate, vanilla extract, and olive or coconut oil. Most recipes for chocolate shells use coconut oil. While this recipe works well with coconut oil, my taste buds prefer a mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil.
Use good chocolate for the best-tasting topping. But after that, the flavor possibilities are endless. You’ll find a mint variation at the end of the recipe, for example.
Recipe by Fran Costigan; photo by Kate Lewis, excerpted from Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts* © 2013, published by Running Press. Reprinted by permission.
Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Shell

This magic vegan chocolate ice cream shell is super simple to make, and requires only three ingredients.
Ingredients
- 7 ounces (198 grams) dark chocolate (68 to 70%), finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) mild tasting extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl and set it in a saucepan of very hot water over the lowest heat. Allow the chocolate to melt undisturbed until about two-thirds is melted.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir with a silicone spatula until all the chocolate is melted. Stir the oil into the chocolate until incorporated. Add the vanilla.
- Keep the shell in liquid form until ready to pour over the ice cream— do not refrigerate.
- To serve: Spoon a few tablespoons of the liquid shell over a dish of ice cream and wait a few seconds until it magically hardens. The liquid sauce will turn into a firm chocolate shell within a few seconds of touching ice cream and will turn matte when it hardens.
- To keep: Store the Chocolate Ice Cream Shell in a jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. It will harden. To warm before using: place the jar in a small saucepan. Pour hot water to reach about halfway up the sides of the jar and warm over the lowest heat until liquefied.
Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol.
A professional member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Les Dames d’Escoffier, and the Association of Food Journalists. Visit Fran on the web at FranCostigan.com.
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If you like amazing vegan ice cream treats, you may also enjoy …
Vegan Cherry Amaretto Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
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See more delectable vegan desserts and sweets.
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