This little dessert I’m sharing with you today happened entirely by accident. I was testing a few recipes for my cookbook, and wanted to use up the last of some soaked cashews and a stray half of a vanilla bean, so I whipped up this raw cashew cream. There were also some locally-grown strawberries and blueberries in my fridge that needed to be eaten ASAP, so I combined those with the sweet cream sauce. I had no plans to do any sort of 4th-of-July-themed post (you may have noticed, I very rarely do holiday-themed posts), but after making and photographing this dish, only then did I realize it’s red, white, and blue! How could I not post it this weekend?
This Vanilla Sweet Cream couldn’t be easier to whip up.
½ cup raw cashews, soaked
3 tablespoons agave or coconut nectar
2 tablespoons coconut butter (I used Vivapura‘s amazing Coconut Créme!)
Seeds from ½ vanilla bean (or 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract)
½ teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt
6 tablespoons filtered water
Additional water, as needed to thin
Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. (If you don’t have coconut butter, leave it out and stream in 1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil at this point, with the blender running.) Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, as needed to blend to a drizzly consistency.
Yield: 10 servings (about 1 1/4 cups)
Per serving (about 2 tablespoons):
78 calories, 4.9g fat (2g sat), 7.7g carbs, 1g fiber, 1.5g protein
Now take any berries of your choosing (whether patriotically-hued or not)…
…and drizzle the vanilla sweet cream allllll over them.
The slight tartness of the berries provides the perfect foil to the velvety-smooth, vanilla-flecked cream. This made a wonderful dessert on a hot summer’s evening!
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
Beautiful pictures and a luscious-looking & healthy dessert for this weekend. Mmm
Thanks mom
I love berries and have been obsessed with local strawberries lately, this looks great!
Local berries are the BEST! I need to go berry-picking again…
That is gorgeous! Fresh berries are the best dessert for a hot summer.
Too true! Fresh berries and/or ice cream
Making this for me for tomorrow!!
Just made this…amazing!! Don’t you just love “accidents”
! Happy 4th!
YAY! So glad you made it and enjoyed it, Libbi!
Yum! That cream sounds delicious!
It’s addicting!
Sounds yummy!!!
Sorry I didn’t get back to you re: the recipe testing. I just found out I got a 2nd part time job for this summer so I’m going to have less time than I imagined!
No problem! It was hard enough to turn down so many people already, so no worries at
all
Oh yum and you’ve even got the red white and blue! Happy Independence say honey
Yeah! Total “accident.”
Awesome, Amber! That looks sooo yummy! I’m gonna try it! Happy 4th, lovely lady!
Really? You should!
YAY!!! This is perfect for tomorrow and I have all of the ingredients I need!!!
Make it!!
Happy my grandma’s birthday to you too!
Thank you for the coconut oil vs butter tip – one day, hopefully, we’ll have coconut butter in Australia! I also love the flecks of vanilla seeds in your cream – always know dessert is going to be good when you see real vanilla. 
Hope you and Matt had a wonderful weekend, wherever you had gallivanted off to! xoxo
You can bring some coconut butter back with you after you return from your trip here
I love cashew cream.
Berries & cream is such a classic…and so delicious. 
Thanks Serena!
Berries and cream are always a treat. Happy 4th of July!
I can’t get enough!
love those specks of vanilla. i love strawberries and blueberries and i’ll use any excuse to eat more of them.
The vanilla flecks are my favorite part.
Delishh! i’m trying to convert to raw this year, just as a goal to be kinder to myself, but my boyfriends dad’s birthday is coming up! and i didn’t want to leave myself out of the celebration, i’m making his favourite meringue cake with fresh berries and whip cream. since i’m going to vito out the meringue part and the whip cream, i wanted to find a whip cream substitute for my berries. if i don’t add the water, do you think i can whip up the mixture to be fluffy like traditional whip cream? even if i can’t, i’ll be mooreee than happy with this! im just going to sorely miss the fluffy creaminess of whip cream
thanks amber!
Hi Madeleine! If you minimize the water in this recipe (using only as much as you need to blend it smoothly) and perhaps blend in a little extra coconut butter or some coconut oil, then refrigerate it until it’s thickened, it’d make a nice creamy dessert topping! It won’t have the lightness or airiness of whipped cream, but it’ll be delicious in its own way
Let me know how it turns out!
Beautiful pictures and a luscious-looking & healthy dessert for this weekend.
Japan is a favorite of the Japanese autumn now.
I also love this season.
Thank you. ARIGATOU.
Ryoma Sakamoto.
Thanks Ryoma!
Hello, I haven’t tried raw food recipes yet and was wondering..
Is there a difference between a cream based on cashews and a cream based on sunflower seeds? As sunflowers seeds are cheaper, I was wondering if they could be a subsitute
Thanks!
Cashews have a mild and naturally-slightly-sweet taste to them, while sunflower seeds are more bitter and less creamy. But you can always try it with sunflower seeds and see if you like it! I think you’ll need to add some extra sweetener, though.
Thank you!
Maybe sunflower seed are best for salted recipes and cashews for sweet recipes?
That’s probably a good guideline to go by! But of course, feel free to experiment with sunflower seeds in sweet recipes, adjusting the amount of sweetener as needed.
I love rapadura!