How to Make a Vegan Knickerbocker Glory (it’s the 70s!)
Knickerbocker glory was every child’s favourite dessert in the 1970s, often enjoyed in a tall sundae glass with a long spoon on seaside holidays. It’s named after a pink-and-cream ice-cream dish served at Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Hotel, with walls the same colour in the 30s.
In the early 20th century, there were even baggy knee-high trousers for young boys and golfers named after it!
Although first sold at American soda bars, knickerbocker glory crossed the Atlantic ocean and became popular in England from the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1950s when sugar rationing ended, it soared in popularity. But for some reason went out of fashion in the 1970s, which is a shame, as it’s a fruit-filled and easy-to-make feast!
The only caveat is that you’ll have to seek out a kitchen shop to find tall sundae glasses and spoons (try Lakeland if you don’t have any local independent stores left).
If you’re a teenager and have never heard of it (!), knickerbocker glory is a dessert made from layered berries with fruit syrup and jelly, alternated with scoops of ice cream, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry on top!
Avoid glace cherries for children and swallowing difficulties (keep away from pets).
Reasons to choose vegan knickerbocker glory
Why not? It’s easy to make vegan, so it’s animal-kind, dairy-free, allergy-friendly and lower in fat (and also zero cholesterol). So it means you can eat more of them!
This is also a dessert that tastes exactly the same if made vegan.
Avoid glace cherries coated with carmine/cochineal (red insects).
Reasons to make your own knickerbocker glory
The main no-brainer reason is that you can’t buy them in shops! The only place you’ll likely find them these days in old-fashion traditional seaside resorts, and even then they likely won’t be vegan or made with very good ingredients.
Making your own means you can play around a bit – use up tinned fruits, switch out dairy-free ice-cream flavours and leave off nuts for children or allergies (or add them in if wished).
You also know exactly what’s gone on it. And making your own is a lot more affordable than trying to find a place that sells it! Once you’ve bought your vegan ice-cream and tinned fruit, leftovers can easily be used to make it again!
A simple recipe for vegan knickerbocker glory
- Place 1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries or raspberries in the bottom of two sundae glasses (or add tinned leftover fruit if wished). Then split 4 tablespoons of strawberry or raspberry syrup (Sweet Freedom’s Fruit Syrup is in easy-to-recycle packaging).
- Then split between the glasses 2 scoops of dairy-free ice-cream (say 1 vanilla and 1 strawberry). Press down into the sundae glasses with a long spoon.
- Add another spoonful of berries and some more fruit syrup or sauce.
- Then add the ice-cream layers again.
- Top with more fresh berries.
- Add optional vegan jelly.
- Add whipped vegan cream (Coconut Collab, Elmlea or Flora)
- Pop a glace cherry on top!
