One of my lovely friend gave me Hemsley and Hemsley Cook book for my birthday and I get so excited by flicking through the pages, getting ideas for my new recipes. It has a lots of dairy free recipes including desserts and it is so incredibly colourful.
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There is a beautiful recipe for a mango cashew cream which I can’t wait to try one day. It has inspired me to use dried mango in recipes which I never really thought of before. It is so easy! Literally just soak it and use as fresh. I only used a little bit so a bag like this would go a long way.
I wanted to try a vegan recipe involving chia seeds which I somehow always have in a cupboard. They are rightly to be called superfood as they are packed with nutrients and have some amazing healing properties. They will make your skin glow, make you feel full for longer and can revert diabetes. I could probably write a separate post on these. The taste is however quite bland so I wanted to add another ingredient or two, to really make it super tasty, not just ‘healthy’ pudding. Chia seeds are really good value for money as they double in size when soaking so again, only need a little bit.
Mango has to be one of my favourite fruits! I think it tastes like sunshine and the best is of course fresh, just picked from the tree like I used to do in Australia. Sadly, there is no mango tree in my english garden so I was really pleased to find out I can use dried mango and the taste is just as good!
Ever since Phoebe learnt the word CAKE (it was one of her first ever words) we have been hearing it a lot! She has been shouting it daily and demanding it like her human rights. It is remarkable what sugar does to people. Especially to little people! She only ever had ‘real’ cake maybe twice or three times in her whole life and it has made such impression on her. I was in need for ‘healthy’ sugar.
I wanted to use natural sweetener in this recipe and I decided to go with dates because not only are they super sweet but they are absolutely amazing. They are full of fibre, have high level of calcium (yes, dairy free diet can still have plenty of it!) and give your heart a healthy boost.
This recipe is really all about soaking 🙂 I have soaked the mango and dates together and I soaked the chia seeds and the cashew nuts separately as I didn’t want to use the water from these.
If you end up with more cashew nuts then you need, use the leftover to make some lovely home made cashew milk.
I have blended the soaked mango and dates together until very smooth, creamy texture. I have rinsed the cashew nuts and added a little water back to them and blended to make another creamy paste. I have mixed the gelled chia seeds with the cashew mixture and layered this with the mango cream in a small glass. And there it was, little bit of sunshine in a glass.
Enjoy:-)

Prep Time | 1 hour |
Servings |
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- 100 grams dried mango
- 100 grams pitted dates
- 5 tbsp chia seeds
- 2 handfuls cashew nuts
Ingredients
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- Soak the dates and mango together in a cup of water. Soak the nuts and chia seeds separately. For chia seeds I soaked these in a glass which I filled with water to the top. Soak for about 1 hour.
- Blend the mango and dates together until smooth and creamy. Rinse the cashews and blend with a a half a cup of water. Add water if necessary to get the creamy consistency. (I used way too much in mine and it was a bit too runny). Mix the gelled chia seeds and cashew mixture together and layer in a glass with the mango/dates cream. Top up with favourite berries and a some fresh mint.