31 Dairy-Free Desserts That Butter Lovers Can Get Behind Too
While we’re not here to debate whether butter makes everything better, dairy-free desserts have a place in our hearts. Whether you’re lactose intolerant (condolences) and can’t handle the bellyache, or just trying to reduce your environmental impact, these recipes all have their own good thing going. We’re talking about the chocolate pudding that gets all its creaminess from ripe avocado. The roasty-toasty cashew ice cream that even the dairy diehards will be able to get behind. And the tahini-swirled brownies that are not only free of milk and butter, but gluten too. (Now, that’s just overachieving.) What’s more: None of them taste even a bit like a compromise. These are the dairy-free desserts we turn to when we want to make everyone at the table happy.
Photograph by Emma Fishman, prop styling by Emma Ringness, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi3/31Vegan Chocolate Cake With Chocolate-Orange Frosting
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova5/31Almond Butter and Jam Quick Bread
With hearty rye flour, pockets of fig jam, and plenty of protein-rich almond butter, this not-too-sweet quick bread is like your favorite piece of toast in cake form. Seek out smooth fig jam without chunks of fruit for easy swirling. For a strictly dairy-free preparation, swap butter for oil when greasing the loaf pan.
Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova7/31Chocolate-Almond Fridge Fudge
There's a secret ingredient that helps replace the dairy in fudgelike vegan dessert. Just kidding; it's not a secret...it's avocado!
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Molly Baz, prop styling by Emily Eisen8/31Salted Chocolate–Tahini Bliss Balls
Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio10/31Chocolate Date-Caramel Cups
Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Sue Li11/31Sweet Potato Tea Cake
This recipe is one of the many standouts from Elizabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson’s Tartine: A Classic Revisited. Instead of icing, this spiced loaf is blanketed in a fluffy vanilla meringue, which bakes up crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Puréed, boiled sweet potatoes give the cake its earthy sweetness and rich orange color, but we also tested the recipe with canned pumpkin purée, which can be used in a pinch. Grease the pan with oil instead of butter to go fully dairy-free.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Emily Eisen14/31Coconut-Chocolate Mousse
Gentl & Hyers25/31Chocolate-Avocado Pudding
Leave it to cool-kid mecca Gjusta in Venice, CA, to create a produce-based, low-sugar, vegan-friendly, “good”-fat-filled, crowd-pleasing chocolate pudding recipe. That would also be completely acceptable to eat for breakfast. Learn how to make this recipe and more in our online cooking class with Sur la Table.
