Delia Smith’s strawberry cheesecake ice cream is a custard-based frozen dessert made with curd cheese, Greek yoghurt, strawberry purée and a baked oat biscuit crumble. It serves 8-10 and comes from her Summer Collection cookbook.
Delia calls this “half dessert and half ice cream,” which is spot on. She builds an egg custard, folds in curd cheese and yoghurt for tang, then ripples through strawberry purée. Curd cheese is lighter than cream cheese, so it doesn’t sit heavy.
One thing competitors won’t tell you: this needs 2 hours in the fridge before serving. Delia specifies 41F (5C) because the curd cheese base freezes harder than standard cream-based ice cream. Skip that step and you’ll lose the cheesecake texture entirely.
Delia Smith Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy8-10
servings40
minutes275
kcal5
hours40
minutesA custard-and-curd-cheese ice cream from Delia’s Summer Collection, rippled with strawberry purée and studded with baked oat biscuit crumble. Delia’s niece and nephew are her chief tasters, and this one gets top marks from them.
Ingredients
- For the strawberry purée:
225g (8 oz) fresh strawberries, hulled
50g (2 oz) caster sugar
55ml (2 fl oz) hot water
- For the crumble mixture:
50g (2 oz) sweet oat biscuits
10g (½ oz) chopped toasted hazelnuts
25g (1 oz) butter, melted
- For the ice cream:
150ml (5 fl oz) whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 rounded teaspoon cornflour
75g (3 oz) caster sugar
450g (1 lb) medium-fat curd cheese
150ml (5 fl oz) Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Equipment
Shallow baking tray
3½ pint (2 litre) polythene freezer box, 20 x 20 x 6cm (8 x 8 x 2½ inches)
Ice cream maker (optional)
Directions
- Place 50g caster sugar and 55ml hot water in a small saucepan. Heat gently, stirring from time to time, until the sugar dissolves completely, about 5-6 minutes. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 5 minutes.
- Pile all the strawberries into a food processor, add the syrup and blend to a smooth purée. Strain through a nylon sieve into a bowl to remove the seeds. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin, not too finely. Combine with the hazelnuts and melted butter. Spread on the baking tray and bake on the top shelf for exactly 5 minutes. Watch carefully, because any more than 5 minutes will be too long. Remove and cool.
- Heat the cream in a saucepan. Whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and 75g sugar together. When the cream reaches simmering point, pour it over the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return to the pan and bring back to a bare simmer, whisking until the custard thickens slightly.
- Pour into a bowl, cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface, and leave until cold.
- Place the curd cheese, yoghurt, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Add the cooled custard and whisk until smooth.
- Churn the mixture until thickened, then transfer to the freezer box. Quickly fold in the crumble mixture, then the strawberry purée, which should form ribbons of red through the ice cream. Freeze for 5-6 hours.
- Pour the custard and cheese mixture into the freezer box and freeze for about 3 hours. Whisk until soft, re-freeze, and repeat after 2-3 hours. Then fold in the crumble and strawberry purée as above. Return to the freezer until needed.
- Transfer to the main body of the fridge 2 hours before serving.
FAQs
What is curd cheese and where can I find it?
Curd cheese is a medium-fat soft cheese made with a lactic starter. It tastes like a lighter, tangier version of cream cheese, which is why Delia uses it for cheesecakes. Delia’s own site describes it as giving “a lighter flavour and texture” than cream cheese.
In the UK, supermarkets stock it in the chilled cheese section, often near the cream cheese. If you can’t find it, Delia’s team recommends full-fat cream cheese like Philadelphia as a substitute, though the result will be richer and slightly heavier. Quark works too, but it’s thinner and you’ll get a softer set. Delia’s vanilla ice cream avoids the curd cheese question entirely by using condensed milk and crème fraîche instead.
Why does Delia make a sugar syrup for the strawberry purée?
Raw strawberries blended with sugar won’t dissolve the crystals properly, especially if the berries are cold from the fridge. Cooking a syrup first means every grain of sugar is liquid before it touches the fruit. The syrup also draws moisture from the strawberries during blending, creating a smoother, more concentrated purée.
Straining through a nylon sieve is the other step worth noting. Delia specifies nylon because metal sieves can react with the acid in strawberries and taint the colour. The seeds would also create a gritty texture running through the ice cream, which fights against the smoothness of the custard base.
Why does this ice cream need 2 hours in the fridge before serving?
Delia is specific: 2 hours at 41F (5C) in the main body of the fridge, not the door. The curd cheese and yoghurt base freezes much harder than a pure cream-based ice cream because it has less fat and more protein. Fat stays soft at low temperatures, while protein sets rigid.
Most ice cream recipes ask for 15-30 minutes of softening. Delia’s needs four times that. If you try to scoop it straight from the freezer, you’ll crack the container before you get a spoonful. The texture is the whole point of this recipe, so set a timer and wait.
Can I make this without an ice cream maker?
Yes, and Delia gives both methods. Without a machine, you freeze the custard-cheese mixture for 3 hours, whisk it smooth, freeze again for 2-3 hours, and whisk once more. Then fold in the crumble and strawberry purée before the final freeze.
The extra whisking rounds replace what the machine’s dasher does: breaking ice crystals and folding in air. Your texture will be slightly denser without a machine, but the curd cheese and yoghurt already provide a softer set than pure cream would. I tested both ways and the no-churn version was close enough that I wouldn’t buy a machine just for this. If you want a simpler no-churn recipe from the same book, Delia’s vanilla ice cream uses condensed milk and skips the custard step entirely.
Why does Delia bake the biscuit crumble for exactly 5 minutes?
Oat biscuits burn fast. They go from golden to black in under a minute once they pass the tipping point, because the butter and sugar caramelise quickly at 190C. Delia’s “exactly 5 minutes” is a genuine warning, not fussiness. Set a timer.
The baking toasts the oats and hazelnuts so they hold their crunch inside the frozen ice cream. Unbaked crumble would absorb moisture from the custard base and turn soggy within an hour of freezing. That toasted, buttery crunch against the smooth base is what makes this feel like actual cheesecake, not just strawberry ice cream.
Can I use frozen strawberries instead of fresh?
Frozen strawberries work, but you’ll need to adjust the syrup. Frozen berries release more water as they thaw, which dilutes the purée. Use 25ml of water in the syrup instead of 55ml to compensate, since the berries will supply the extra liquid themselves.
Thaw them fully first and drain off any excess juice before blending. The flavour won’t be quite as bright as peak-season British strawberries, but in January it’s a fair trade. Avoid strawberries packed in syrup, which will make the purée too sweet and throw off the balance with the tangy curd cheese base.
