Non-dairy chocolate and caramel sauces?

[plk]

My husband and I are having some friends over for an evening of reality TV and ice cream sundaes. In all, a junkfest of food and entertainment. Rotting the mind and body all at once! The glitch: two of our guests are vegans. Not a big problem, though: Soy Delicious (or Soy Dream or whatever it's called) ice cream is pretty decent, and Hip Whip whipped topping is an okay substitute for whipped cream. I'll have the real stuff on hand for the rest of us heathens, though. I'd like some suggestions about what to do for the chocolate and caramel sauces, though. For simplicity, I'm only going to make one of each, and they'll both be vegan.

In place of the cream in the sauces below, I was thinking of using coconut milk. Would that likely work? Or, should I try soy milk or soy cream? Soy has never tasted quite right to me in milk or cream form. The butter will be replaced with Earth Balance margarine.

Non-vegan recipes:

Chocolate fudge sauce

10 ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped

1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder , Dutch process

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch table salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces

Caramel sauce

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup heavy cream

pinch table salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cold

[vinelady]

The coconut cream/milk will work. Another option is silk creamer.

[Patrick S]

plk, please report back if you have any success.

[plk]

Well, I did it.

And the verdict is .... success!

I used Trader Joe's light coconut milk (it wasn't an attempt to be healthier -- it was just what was available) and Earth Balance margarine.

The fudge sauce was especially a success, and I'll attribute that to the powerfully chocolate flavor of the two types of chocolate. What little coconut flavor was imparted from the coconut milk was entirely overpowered by the chocolate. So, if you want a coconut-flavored hot fudge, you would need to add a bit of coconut extract to it, along with the vanilla. It was creamy, smooth, appropriately thick when cooled, and did not harden into a solid block when chilled in the refrigerator. I did thicken considerably in the refridgerator, but you could still spread it on something, if you were so inclined. It reheats well with no off-flavors or other problems that I could detect.

The caramel sauce was also a success, though it did have a slight coconut flavor. It was not unpleasant, but it was there. The texture was also good and it reacted exactly the same as a dairy sauce.

In fact, the results were good enough so that I think I'll continue to make caramel and fudge sauces this way. It is certainly easier to keep a can of coconut milk on hand than it is to run out for heavy cream, and I am guessing that it's less expensive than soy cream/creamer.

[Eden]

In fact, the results were good enough so that I think I'll continue to make caramel and fudge sauces this way.  It is certainly easier to keep a can of coconut milk on hand than it is to run out for heavy cream, and I am guessing that it's less expensive than soy cream/creamer.

Just to be clear - you subbed 1 for 1 the coconut milk for the heavy cream?

I would love to use these recipes for some dairy intolerant friends...

[plk]

Yup; it was a straight 1:1 substitution.

I've also had very good success with using coconut milk in making a non-dairy chocolate fondue.