Delia Smith’s lemon meringue ice cream is a frozen dessert made with lemon syrup, egg custard, whipping cream, Greek yoghurt, and crushed meringue nests. From her Summer Collection (1993), it serves 8-10 with 30 minutes of active work plus 10-12 hours of freezing.
Smith calls this “sharp, very lemony and most refreshing, truly an ice cream for summer.” The surprise is her instruction to use shop-bought meringue nests. “We have found that the shop-bought meringues actually work better,” she writes, because they keep their crunch inside frozen custard.
The lemon syrup is where most people trip up. Mix the cornflour with just 2 tablespoons of lemon juice first, not the full 200 ml. Get that backwards and you’ll end up with lumps instead of a glossy syrup.
Delia Smith Lemon Meringue Ice Cream
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy8-10
servings30
minutes325
kcalA crowd-sized frozen dessert from Smith’s Summer Collection (1993) that combines a sharp lemon syrup with custard, yoghurt, and crunchy meringue pieces. Too large for a standard ice cream maker, so Smith designed it for hand-whisking in the freezer.
Ingredients
- For the lemon syrup:
7 fl oz (200 ml) fresh lemon juice (4-5 lemons)
Grated zest of 2 lemons
2 heaped teaspoons cornflour
5 oz (150 g) caster sugar
- For the ice cream:
15 fl oz (425 ml) whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 rounded teaspoon cornflour
6 oz (175 g) caster sugar
7 fl oz (200 ml) Greek yoghurt
4 meringue nests, broken into coarse chunks
- Equipment
3½ pint (2 litre) polythene freezer box, 8 x 8 inches x 2½ inches deep (20 x 20 cm x 6 cm deep)
Directions
- Make the lemon syrup: in a bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar with the remaining lemon juice over a low heat (5-6 minutes), add the zest, bring up to simmering point and cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour the hot syrup over the cornflour mixture, return it all to the pan and, still keeping the heat low, cook for 2 more minutes, stirring, until thickened. Cool and leave on one side till required.
- Make the custard base: place the cream in a saucepan and heat gently. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar together. When the cream reaches simmering point, pour it over the egg mixture, still whisking, and return the whole lot to the saucepan.
- Bring back to a bare simmer, continuing to whisk. Pour the thickened custard into a bowl, cover with cling film placed directly on the surface of the custard and leave on one side until cold.
- When cold, combine the custard with the yoghurt, pour into the freezer box, cover and freeze for 2 hours or until the mixture is starting to freeze. Use an electric hand whisk to whisk again while still in the box.
- Re-freeze, then after a couple of hours repeat the whisking, this time adding the lemon syrup. Finally, lightly and evenly fold in the meringue pieces, put the lid back on and freeze till needed. It will take a further 6-8 hours to freeze completely.
FAQs
Why does Smith recommend shop-bought meringues instead of homemade?
Homemade meringues absorb moisture from the ice cream base and turn soft within hours. Smith tested both and found that commercial meringue nests hold their structure in the freezer, so you still get crunch in every bite days later.
She’s honest about it too: “which does make the whole thing easier to make.” Any standard supermarket meringue nest works. Break them into rough, uneven chunks rather than crushing them fine, because larger pieces give you proper texture contrast against the smooth lemon custard.
Can I make this in an ice cream maker?
Smith warns against it directly: “the quantity of this ice cream is too much for a standard ice cream maker.” At 2½ pints, it’ll overflow most domestic machines, and splitting it into batches creates inconsistent texture since the syrup and meringue get added during the second whisk.
Her hand method is designed around the freezer box for a reason. The two-stage whisking lets you control exactly when the lemon syrup goes in. If you do use a machine, churn only the custard-yoghurt base, then fold in the syrup and meringue by hand afterwards and return the whole lot to the freezer.
Why does Smith add Greek yoghurt to the base?
The yoghurt adds tang that reinforces the lemon flavour without adding more juice. It also lightens the texture. Whipping cream alone would make this too rich, and the sharpness of yoghurt stops the sweetness from becoming cloying after a few spoonfuls.
Full-fat Greek yoghurt is what you want here. Low-fat versions contain more water, which will produce larger ice crystals and a grainier result. The fat in proper Greek yoghurt helps keep the ice cream smooth between the whisking stages.
How do I avoid messing up the lemon syrup?
The critical step is mixing the cornflour with only 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, not the full amount. One reviewer who poured all 200 ml of juice onto the cornflour at once described the results as a disaster. The cornflour needs a small amount of cold liquid to form a smooth paste before hot syrup hits it.
The syrup will look thin and watery while it’s hot. Don’t panic. It thickens as it cools, and by the time you fold it into the ice cream at the second whisk stage, it should be a glossy, pourable consistency. If it’s still runny after cooling completely, return it to low heat for another minute of stirring.
How far ahead can I make this ice cream?
One food blogger who has made this recipe for over 25 years reports that “I have never once had anyone not come back for seconds.” She makes the custard and lemon syrup the evening before, chills everything overnight, then assembles and freezes the next morning.
The finished ice cream keeps well in the freezer for up to three weeks. The lemon syrup content helps prevent it from freezing rock-solid, so it stays scoopable even straight from the freezer. Press cling film onto the surface before sealing the lid to prevent ice crystals forming on top.
Can I use lemon curd instead of the lemon syrup?
You could, but you’d lose the sharp, clean lemon hit that makes this recipe work. Shop-bought lemon curd contains butter and extra sugar, which would make the ice cream richer and sweeter rather than “sharp and very lemony” as Smith intends.
If you’re short on time, a quality lemon curd thinned with a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice comes closest. Fold it in at the second whisking stage exactly as you would the syrup. The result will taste more like lemon cheesecake ice cream than lemon meringue, which isn’t bad, just different from what Smith designed.
