Making your own dairy-free or vegan magic shell is probably one of the easiest things ever. It basically comes down to three key ingredients: coconut oil, cocoa powder, and some sweetener — and you've probably got all these ingredients in stock in your gluten-free vegan pantry already!
It's actually not that different from the store-bought kind anyhow, since the base for that is coconut oil as well. That's what makes it "magical" since coconut oil has the special property of liquifying when warmed and solidifying when it comes in contact with cold. So by making your own vegan magic shell, you're essentially getting the best of both worlds because you get that magical chocolatey shell you're looking for, but with control over the ingredients and the option to make it a healthier recipe tailored to your diet {i.e. make it dairy-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, raw, etc.}.
* {UPDATED DIRECTIONS:} I've been making this recipe so much lately, that my method of making it has become lazier and lazier {double boiler... blender... BE GONE!}, and to my surprise it's been working waaaay better this way. So I've updated the directions on here to make things easier for you as well -- follow my lead...
PrintDIY Gluten-Free Vegan Magic Shell
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ¾ cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil, liquified
- ½ cup cocoa powder (or carob powder)
- 6 tbsp liquid sweetener of your choice (I used maple syrup), at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- Optional – 1-2 teaspoon tapioca starch for a thicker mixture (I only do this if I’m using this as a drizzle over cakes).
Instructions
- Make sure your coconut oil is liquified, but not hot. If you need to heat it up to melt it, then allow it some time to cool first.
- Place all ingredients in a glass bowl (I use a tall measuring cup). Mix with a spoon (I actually use a wooden stir stick) until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth. This can take a few minutes -- just keep stirring until there are no clumps left behind.
Notes
Can be used right away for dipping frozen desserts, chilled treats, or for drizzling over your favorite desserts.
You can halve or even quarter this recipe if you only want a bit of drizzle. I make it in the quantity I outlined above because if you want to dip things like frozen pops in it you need a bit more substance for coating. I usually have leftovers this way, which I simply store in a glass jar in the fridge.
If you do store this in the fridge, it will solidify, so when you want to use it again just bring it back to room temperature (either by leaving it out of the fridge overnight, microwaving, etc.). It melts back into a liquid state fairly easily, and then just give it a stir and it’s ready for use again.
You can easily flavor this recipe by adding in some mint flavor or a bit of Kahlua, or any other flavors you’d like.
UPDATE: I recently made this magic shell with carob powder instead of cocoa powder, and it was AMAZING! Give it a try for a change sometime.
Lisa says
Hi Audrey,
I hope my comments will help anyone who ends up with a big glob in oil. Here's what I did when I couldn't get the ingredients to incorporate: I salvaged the carob stuff and with my hands put that on the marzipan log that I made. it turned out great! And I've been keeping it in the refrigerator.
I saved the excess oil by returning it to the jar I had taken it from for future use. Next time around I will make sure it's cooled down. I made this for Christmas and was so exhausted from all the cooking I was doing I probably didn't read the part in the recipe about the oil needing to be cooled down. I have no idea frankly what temperature it was at when I tried to combine it with the other ingredients.
What I ended up with was a fudgy confection that still was easy to mold around the marzipan log.
Thanks!
Mantra26 says
I'm a Type I/Juvenile diabetic that is also vegetarian. Unfortunately, I have an intense sweet tooth. This was delicious and super easy to make. Thanks for creating this, girl. I'm happy.
★★★★★
Jane says
I want to try this on rum balls will it stay hard outside if rum alls stay out of the refrigerator for a few hours?
Mantra26 says
Coconut oil melts at room temp. I don't know what you could use to harden them.
Mary M-S says
I can't wait to make this. I've played with making my own chocolate chips and dip, but it never quite worked out. This recipe makes it sound very doable. Can't wait to make strawberry dipped pops for visiting grandkids. Thanks so much for always creating wonderful desserts.
★★★★★
Audrey says
Hi Mary, thanks so much -- enjoy it :)
Kim says
I was wondering if nesquick chocolate syrup would work.
Audrey says
Hi Kim, not sure what you mean. Would work as what?
Jessie says
I made this 3 times. The first time, it was awesome. The last 2 times, the oil separated and the carob seized up the more I stirred. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. It seemed to get worse the cooler the ingredients were. Everything was at room temperature. The flavor is great but I’m struggling to figure out why I can’t reproduce the results I had the first time.
★★★★
Audrey says
Hi Jessie. Hmm, that's odd. Did you change anything in the ingredients ratio at all?
Boaz says
Same happened here first time I tried. The carob mixture never incorporated into the oil. The oil coated the balls so the carob mix never stuck to it. I stuck to the exact wording of the recipe.
Will have to give it another shot but my partner will not be happy wit the amount of maple of syrup used
★★★
Georgina says
Made this both with cocoa and with carob, and several times. Such a great recipe, thank you. I've used it on ice cream and chilled cakes and it works great.
★★★★★
Audrey says
Awesome -- so happy the recipe is serving you well, Georgina :)
Heather says
Hi, Audrey! If I don't have tapioca starch in hand, could I substitute cornstarch? I want to use your recipe as a topping for an almond butter silk pie, and need the chocolate topping to be firm yet slice-able. 🙂
Audrey says
Hi Heather, actually, for a softer/sliceable chocolate cake topping what I love doing most with this these days is mixing it with some coconut cream (just the firm white stuff that collects at the top of a can of full fat coconut milk chilled in the fridge overnight) or some nut butter (almond butter would make sense since it's an almond butter silk pie :) ). Depending on how soft / runny you want it (keep it mind it'll firm up a little when chilled) you can do half-half (half chocolate sauce, half almond butter), a third almond butter and 2/3 of the chocolate sauce, etc.
LISA says
I would like to make carob coated, dried pineapple rings like we used to get in the 70s in the health food store. Any suggestions on how to best go about this?
Audrey says
Hi Lisa, I think the store-bought ones were most likely coated in a carob-based mixture that had other additives and preservatives in it to make the coating room temp stable, etc.
This is a simpler version of a carob coating which would be totally delicious with pineapple, but maybe it would best be kept refrigerated to make sure the coating doesn't melt on you. To make it slightly more room temp resilient you can use cacao butter in place of coconut oil (if you're ok with it of course) as it stays a bit more solid.
I would just order (or buy in person if you've seen them around) dried / dehydrated pineapple rings, make the coating, dunk the rings in the coating and set them on a parchment-lined chilled metal tray so that the coating sets faster and more smoothly. Let the coating firm up, then transfer to a container of some kind and keep refrigerated until ready to eat. Hope that helps to set you on the right path with these :)
Lauryn says
This was exactly what I was looking for. So quick and easy. I sifted the cocoa powder through a sieve before mixing it. Not clumps!
★★★★★
Audrey says
HI Lauryn -- I'm so glad the recipe worked well for you. Thanks for sharing. And good tip on the cocoa sifting!
Cristine says
Maybe my coconut oil wasn't cool enough, but it wouldn't incorporate into the carob mixture. :( It was quite gloopy and wouldn't stick onto the carob truffle recipe. Perhaps my fault... But after I poured off the excess oil it was delicious! I haven't had any chocolate in a couple months and it definitely satisfied that craving. :)
★★★★
Audrey says
Hi Christine. Sorry it didn't work out for you and thank you for sharing. For me that issue has always come down to ingredients not being cool enough. But I'm glad you were able to salvage the mixture and have some "chocolate" nonetheless.
Sarah Benighmam says
Do you think avacodo oil will work?
Audrey says
Hi Sarah,
To get a "magic shell" type of consistency -- a chocolate that freezes solid when poured on cold items, like ice cream, etc., the only two types of oil I can think of that would work are coconut oil and cacao butter, as both freeze solid when chilled. Using a dairy-free butter is another good alternative for a softer chocolate sauce.
If you use another oil, like avocado, olive oil, etc., you'll end up with a chocolate sauce that'll taste good, but the drizzle won't solidify. If that's fine with you, go for it :)
Kim says
Our carob shell got gelatin-like and would not stick to the truffles (carob truffle- paleo and raw). We did heat the coconut oil to melt and then let cool (was still warm). Any thoughts?
Audrey says
Hi Kim. So sorry the recipe didn't work out for you, but thank you for sharing. The consistency you are describing sounds like what happens when the sugar gets over-heated. Did you stir the mixture by hand? If so, assuming all else was followed as per the recipe I suspect the coconut oil was too warm. What happens when you mix a warm source of fat with sugar is that it begins to thicken and clump up. If you keep stirring it in that state you'll usually end up with a glob floating in oil.
If you wanted to give this another go, the coconut oil would need to be cooled further, so that it's liquid, but at room temperature. If you try it another time, I'd love to hear how you go and whether this fixes things.
Dina says
This is amazing! I am currently magic-shelling everything in my freezer, I can't get enough! I used it to disguise a spinach smoothie pop for my three year old son and his face and hands were brown and green and happy all over!
★★★★★
Audrey says
That's awesome -- I'm glad you're making good use of this recipe :) Definitely a good disguise for spinach and other scary green things ;)
Phoebe says
I love this drizzled over your raspberry cinnamon nice cream!
★★★★★
Audrey says
Awesome -- glad you're enjoying it, Phoebe :) Chocolate and raspberries are so good together.
Leanne says
Could I sub cacoa butter for the coconut oil?
Audrey says
Absolutely :)
Michael calabrese says
Would this work if I wanted to coat a vegan candy or bar for my fam? I tried without tapioca. It was exquisite. But the bar I made had to be in a cooler for me to take on the go. Chocolate melts very easily. Would tapioca thicken it enough to have, for instance, a peanut butter cup type end result with the shell?
★★★★★
Audrey says
Absolutely yes -- I use it for coating candy bars all the time (though they need to be kept chilled). No need for tapioca -- it will actually have the opposite effect and won't make it solidify as much. What you can do is use melted room-temp cacao butter instead of coconut oil -- it holds up better at room temperature than coconut oil.
DL says
I have just made this, and I can't get the sugar to dissolve. Any thoughts?
Audrey says
What type of sugar did you use?
Laura says
Incredible recipe!
I love your blog! Thanks for sharing :-)
Laura
★★★★★
Audrey says
You're welcome :) Enjoy it!
Krisztina says
Hi,
I've just prepared your carob truffles with this magic shell and it turned out to be wonderful! However, I made a small change which I would like to share with you, hoping you do not mind. I've jus run out of vanilla, so I decided to substitute it with orange as I needed something that helps to compensate carob's peculiar taste (I am on AIP diet, so I cannot use cocoa) a bit. I used 2 tsp of juice and about 1 tsp of zest of an orange (i used honey as sweetener) and I was more than contented with the result. :-)
I hope you don't mind my sharing this variation on your site...
★★★★★
Audrey says
So glad to heat you liked it, Krisztina! And of course I don't mind you sharing -- I love hearing what people change {and I'm sure others love reading through alternative suggestions and substitutions} and I think carob and orange are a wonderful combination. Thanks so much for sharing!
Joyce @ It's Your Life says
I love this, but don't have cocoa powder, so wonder if carob powder would work. Thinking maybe I could make some chocolate covered strawberries with this, thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays.
Audrey says
Hi Joyce. Thanks so much for stopping by! I haven't tried it yet, but I think carob powder would work great for this. Just be sure to freeze the strawberries for like 10 minutes beforehand so that the shell hardens quickly.
Joyce @ It's Your Life says
Thanks for that tip, do you think dipping them and then putting them in fridge would also work? Featuring this post tonight on the link up.
Audrey says
I think it will work, but maybe not as nicely. The way magic shell works is that the ingredients harden up when they come in contact with cold. Otherwise the mixture will be runny and will probably run off the strawberries some. Placing the strawberries in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to dipping would work better, and it won't actually freeze the strawberries on the inside. It'll just make the outside cold and so when you dip them the chocolate (or carob) coating will harden up within seconds. Then it'll remain hard and you can store the strawberries in the fridge after that. If you do try it out the other way though, let me know. I'd love to know how it goes. And thanks so much for the feature! :)
Marla says
Love this recipe. It's easy and has such healthy ingredients for all those chocolate lovers which I have always been one of them. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Blog Hop.
Audrey says
Thanks, Marla! And thanks for hosting the party too!