You can make Delia Smith rhubarb crumble ice cream from baked rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice and whipping cream, plus a small gingery crumble. You bake the rhubarb at 190°C, blend it smooth and churn it with the cream, which gives 1.2 litres for 6 to 8 people. It needs about 50 minutes of kitchen time, plus at least 2 hours in the freezer.
Delia made it for her Summer Collection in 1993, and her website shows the same recipe. While they were filming the ice creams for the TV series, her team tasted every one and voted this their favourite.
It needs no eggs and no custard, only a rhubarb purée stirred into cream, so it is simpler than most homemade ice creams. Think of it as a frozen cousin of her hot rhubarb, almond and ginger crumble, with crisp bits of gingery crumble folded through.
Rhubarb is at its best in spring, and her website lists this ice cream with its Easter recipes. You can also make it without an ice cream maker, and the FAQs below give her freeze-and-whisk method.
Delia Smith Gingery Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy8
servings20
minutes30
minutes420
kcalBaked rhubarb and cream ice cream with crisp, gingery crumble pieces stirred through.
Ingredients
- For the ice cream:
450g trimmed rhubarb
225g sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
425ml whipping cream
- For the crumble:
50g butter
50g light brown muscovado sugar
½ level teaspoon ground ginger
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas mark 5. You need a shallow 28 x 18cm baking tin, a large shallow baking dish and a 2 litre freezer box.
- Crumble: Put the flour, butter, muscovado and ginger in a bowl. Rub the butter in with your hands until the mix forms small balls the size of peas, then scatter it evenly in the baking tin.
- Rhubarb: Cut the rhubarb into 1cm lengths and put it in the baking dish with the sugar and lemon juice.
- Bake: Put the rhubarb on a lower shelf and the crumble on the shelf above. Take the crumble out after 10 minutes and leave it to cool.
- Purée: Give the rhubarb another 15 to 20 minutes, until it is completely tender. Cool it a little, blend it to a smooth purée, then cover and chill it in the fridge.
- Crumbs: Break the cold crumble back into pea-sized pieces with your hands.
- Churn: Stir the cream into the chilled purée and churn it in an ice cream maker until it is like softly whipped cream.
- Freeze: Spoon it quickly into the freezer box and stir in the crumble pieces. Put the lid on and freeze for at least 2 hours, until firm enough to serve.
Notes
- If it has frozen solid, move it to the main part of the fridge for about 25 minutes before you scoop it.
- Stir the crumble in quickly, before the mixture firms up.
FAQs
Do I need to whip the cream for rhubarb crumble ice cream?
No, you stir the whipping cream into the chilled rhubarb purée just as it comes from the carton. Her website gave the same answer to a reader who asked, and the churning or whisking then thickens it.
Keep to whipping cream rather than double cream, because that is what her recipe uses, at 425ml for the 450g of rhubarb.
How do I get the crumble right for the ice cream?
Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and ginger with your hands until it clumps into little balls, no bigger than peas. Delia compares it to breadcrumbs made in a half-hearted way from very fresh bread.
That makes it chunkier than her basic crumble topping, which is rubbed to fine crumbs. After baking, break it up again into pieces of the same size, because bigger bits are hard to eat and smaller ones disappear.
Can I make rhubarb crumble ice cream without an ice cream maker?
Yes, and her Summer Collection gives a simple freeze-and-whisk method instead. Pour the cream and purée mixture into the freezer box, without the crumble, and freeze it for 3 to 4 hours.
Then whisk it well and freeze it for 2 hours more. Whisk it once again, add the crumble, and give it a final freeze. An electric whisk makes this much easier, her website says.
Why did the crumble go grainy in my ice cream?
This usually happens when the crumble goes in too early and gets whisked or churned with the ice cream. Her website explains that the pieces then break up, so the ice cream tastes grainy.
Always stir the crumble in last, after the final whisk or churn, while the ice cream is still like a soft-churn mix. If your freezer is very cold, check it after 2 hours, before it sets too hard to stir.
How much ice cream does this recipe make?
Her book says it makes 1.2 litres, or 2 pints, which is enough for 6 to 8. One reader on her website made it without a machine and got just over 1.5 pints, so your batch may come out a little smaller.
Her freezer box, 20cm square and 6cm deep, holds 2 litres, so there is room to stir in the crumble either way.
