Vegan Rocky Road
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY – Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Nut-free, Dairy-free
I’ll confess, I’d never had rocky road before developing this recipe. The American no-bake slice traditionally features milk chocolate, marshmallows and some sort of biscuit and is served sliced up like a brownie. It’s rich, indulgent and oh-so-delicious! But, with marshmallows in it, it isn’t suitable for vegetarians (due to the addition of gelatine), so I have always passed it up… until I discovered gelatine-free marshmallows (thank you Dandies)!
Making rocky road gluten-free is not too difficult as you can quite easily swap out biscuits for a gluten-free alternative, and the rest of the ingredients you should find are naturally free from gluten (though always check the label). To make rocky road vegan, however, is a little more challenging. First, I had to find vegan marshmallows, which luckily were readily available at my local health food shop. I used Dandies Vegan Marshmallows, which were very tasty and, according to my hubby, tasted exactly like the real thing. Then, I had to find suitable chocolate, which luckily enough I had thanks to Australian brand Sweet William Chocolate who were kind enough to send me their ‘milk’, dark and white chocolate baking buttons all free from nuts, dairy and gluten.
Once I had those key ingredients figured out, I had to decide what else I wanted to use for the decadent filling, which traditionally is a balance of soft and crunchy textures. As they’re gluten-free and suitable for vegans, I decided on popcorn and homemade honeycomb – for some reason the shop-bought stuff here contains gelatine, so I couldn’t use it. Fortunately, I already knew how to make honeycomb as it’s always been one of my favourite things to eat and to to give as a homemade gift, usually dipped in chocolate, so I will share my go-to recipe below.
To make homemade honeycomb you will need:
75g golden syrup
150g sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
1. Line a baking tray or tin with non-stick parchment paper.
2. Add the golden syrup and sugar to a deep-bottom saucepan and set over medium heat. Stir every now and then until combined and the sugar has completely dissolved.
3. Stop stirring and turn the heat up slightly. Let the sugar syrup bubble away until it turns a deep amber colour (around 5-7 minutes) or hits approximately 310°F on a thermometer.
4. Take it off the heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. It will foam up and start to stiffen and set but whisk quickly and vigorously to fully incorporate the bicarb before pouring into your prepared tin.
5. Allow to cool in the tin for at least 1 hour before breaking into pieces. To do this you can either snap pieces off or drop the slab of honeycomb from a slight height to break it up easily.
Honeycomb will keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container. If you have some left over, I recommend dipping it in chocolate and keeping it in the fridge. It’s absolutely scrumptious!
Though these were my fillings of choice, you can get creative with your own recipe by swapping out marshmallows, popcorn and honeycomb for other types of candy, dried fruit, nuts or biscuits. And you can, of course, stick to just one type of chocolate if you prefer.
Vegan Rocky Road
Ingredients:
- 110g vegan marshmallows
- 90g honeycomb (see above for homemade honeycomb recipe)
- 20g lightly salted popcorn
- 50g vegan butter
- 1½ tbsp golden syrup
- 300g vegan dark chocolate (I used Sweet William for my three chocolates)
- 100g vegan ‘milk’ chocolate
- 50g vegan white chocolate
Method:
- First, line a square brownie tin or deep baking pan with parchment paper.
- Next, mix the marshmallows, honeycomb and popcorn in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Melt the butter, golden syrup and dark chocolate together in a glass bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water or you can use a microwave – just be sure to melt in short bursts and stir in between to prevent the chocolate from burning.
- Pour the melted dark chocolate mixture over the marshmallows, honeycomb and popcorn and stir until fully coated.
- Pour into your prepared tin and spread out with a spoon.
- Next, melt the white and ‘milk’ chocolates separately – again you can use a microwave or glass bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water.
- Drizzle both chocolates over your rocky road until used up.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight to set fully.
- Slice and enjoy!