I don’t encourage food snobbery but there are some things that I just cannot abide by and one of them is fake fruit flavour. When I was young, we’d get a tub of Neapolitan ice cream (and it was always Neopolitan, certainly none of this gorgeous gourmet ice cream you see these days) and despite my natural graviation towards anything pink, I’d always give the faux strawberry ice cream a definite miss. It seemed just not quite right to me and not strawberry like enough. Although I should just target faux strawberry – I’ve found the worst offenders for the faux fruit flavour banana and cherry which taste nothing like the actual food.
Rant over I’ll get off my (pink) soapbox and explain how overjoyed I am that Summer fruits are coming back into season. This last weekend I filled my fruit bowl with Pomegranates, Mangoes, Strawberries, Nashis and Papaya. So I wanted to do something with some of this fruit but also combining it with mascarpone which I had made just before. The heat this week also convinced me that it needed to be an ice cream of some sort too.
If you had a quick glance at the ingredients list you’ll see that I have balsamic vinegar and black pepper. Honestly, I haven’t taken leave of my senses, they’re both fantastic accompaniments to strawberries but of course you could leave these out or try one at a time but to me it just enhances the taste. I bought these mini cones a while back and miraculously they survived the move and I placed them in these adorable pastel mini tin pails I found at Pink Frosting, where I have been given the rather lovely title of “expert” and I pick my favourite products from their range once every 2 months!
The ice cream is smooth and cheesecake like because of the mascarpone. In fact with some of the cones, I crushed some biscuits and rolled the tops of them in them and then froze them for a later party which I think qualifies them as strawberry mascarpone cheesecake ice creams. The biscuit crumbs allowed them not to stick together – a practical measure you see and you had better believe that I pretended that they were supposed to be like that all along!
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite Summer fruit and how do you like to eat it? On it’s own, in a salad or in an ice cream or sorbet? If you missed out on listening to my interview on the ABC702 Food at Eleven program with Simon Marnie, here is a link! I’m there with Demis and Helen discussing our favourite events from the Sydney International Food Festival. Time really flies when you’re having fun and before I knew it, the interview had finished (although will I ever get used to the sound of my own voice? 
).
And because it’s Wallpaper Wednesday, here is a Wallpaper to help you get through Hump Day! Chee Chong Fun Rice Noodles.
Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
- 600ml carton thickened cream
- 150g icing sugar, sifted
- 250g mascarpone
- 250g punnet strawberries
- 3 tablespoons icing sugar extra
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- Black pepper (optional)
- Mini waffle cones or regular sized
1. In a food processor, whiz the washed and hulled strawberries, balsamic vinegar, black pepper and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar.
2. Whip cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form (watch to ensure that the firm peak stage is not reached). Add the mascarpone and beat until incorporated. Mix this with the strawberry liquid and put through the ice cream machine. Freeze until firm.
3. Scoop mini cones with a melon baller.
N.B. A litte note for those of you who asked about making it without an ice cream maker, you certainly can freeze it in a metal tray or plastic container but you will want to churn it in some way to make it less icey. You can pulse it in a food processor a couple of times once it’s frozen and then refreeze it and then pulse it again and then refreeze.
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60 Comments | Add your own
Synthetic strawberry flavor is the worst with banana at a close second. Love the balsamic strawberry combo. I use balsamic to mascerate them all the time in the summer! Looks great!
A great combo! Luscious ice cream!
Cheers,
Rosa
This looks so appetizing,Yummy! Absolutely irresistible!!
I always think of mango when i think of summer fruit yumm… i had my firts one this season the other day, I made frozen yoghurt. =D
i know what you mean about fake fruit flavours, i have hated anything banana flavoured ever since ordering a banana smoothie when i was young and being given milk with fake banana flavouring =( and dont get me started on the banana lollies…!
I’m hearing you about the faux fruit flavours. I always hated the pink Neapolian icecream as well. Although confession time – I did love those banana lollies even though I hated the real fruit.
So beautiful! Sweet, but not too sweet with tang and spice.
These look awesome – just cannot imagine black pepper in my icecream though!!
Mango would have to be my all time fave.. I have a pic of me with mango all over my face on a tropical island in Vanuatu and it’s me in summer every year
yum!
i adore cheesecake flavoured ice creams. i always make my ice cream with cream cheese. this flavour looks amazing.
i have to confess tohaving a soft spot for faux cherry flavour. mm..FCF.
I’m not a fan of the fake fruit flavors either. Your ice cream sounds amazing. Congrats on your expert title. I knew you would go far! xoxo Mum
Oh yum!!! This looks perfect for the hot day yesterday and our (likely) hot summer. And no raw eggs – that’s always a good sign for some.
I’m all about making my own icecream this year (Oh OK, and going to Ben&Jerrys!) this one looks yummy.
My favourite summer fruit? Raspberries/Strawberries/Blueberries… CHERRIES.
Must go down south to pick up some cherries.. mmm
Ah Lorraine – gorgeous shots – with this heat, I just want to dig in! And the buckets are adorable. Great find! Where did you get them?!
Wow! This looks so yummy. I’m with you, NQN – I hate fake fruit flavour (with the exception of pineapple lollies!) but this looks amazing. Am going to make it this weekend x
oh, WELL DONE, photographing those ice-creams!! – you have to work fast to get a picture like that – no fussing over the composition for half an hour for you! (or suffer melting and dribbling…) You’re a legend – a lot of the commercial ice-cream shooters scoop up mashed potato and polyfiller to fake… I mean ‘make’… their photos!
Haha I was so with you on the Neopolitan – I used to always go for the Vanilla & Chocolate, would never touch the Strawberry (unless I got really desperate) Lol. I love summer fruits, they are the best thing about summer! Your ice cream sounds delicious too
Oh.My.Gawd.
In my current razor blade coated throat agony…I WANT THIS NOW.
Ooo icecream that doesn’t involve the icecream maker yet still creamy! How delightful!
Wow never thought black pepper would be such a good complement.
Cherries and Lychees, we buy them by the box and gorge ourselves silly!!
Lorraine – Is it possible to make this icecream without an icecream maker – hope so!
I really enjoy your ‘blogs’ and was delighted to hear you on the ABC last week.
Oh yummo, that looks easy enough even for me to have a try.
We live in the tropics and are surrounded by mangos dripping off the trees – and I am allergic to them
My favorite summer fruits are cherries. I have a deal each year with my son that all I want for Christmas each year is a kilo of cherries.
Yum! A strawberry cheesecake in a cone sounds perfect for the hot summer days ahead
Mmm gorgeous! And cheesecakey?! This sounds so yummy!
This sounds like a perfect ice cream flavor! Strawberries are my favorite, and balsamic and mascarpone sound fantastic in this.
What gorgeous icecream! Cheesecake like – sounds perfect. My favourite summer fruits are mangoes and cherries enjoyed on their own.
Oh my. Yum. Very yum.
Oh Lorraine, I agree with you time a hundred! Faux flavours suck. I love watermelon for instance, but can’t stand anything watermelon ‘flavoured’.
So excited about summer fruits!! I’m hanging out for some grapes, big time. I always keep a container of washed ones in the fridge for a quick snack..mmmmm.
sounds good – we had neapolitan icecream when I was little too – and I loved chocolate best of all – never was a pink fiend! But I would love this icecream – I bought some Herbies beetroot red food colouring and am looking for ways to use it – wonder how it would go in this icecream to make it more rosy coloured!
Mango is my favourite summer fruit. Sadly in the northern hemisphere the season is over.
This looks delicious. Good to use with your recipe for making your own marscapone that you posted a short while ago.
My favorite summer fruit is cherries! It’s sad that I’ll have to wait almost a whole year for those again!
Your photos are GORGEOUS and your ice cream sounds really fantastic! As a kid the only ice cream my parents bought was Neopolitan too! I wonder why that is?! Anyway, since then I’ve realized that cheesecake ice cream is definitely the best way to go.
Lovely. I love strawberries and other berries for the summer. The good things about his ice cream is I don’t have to use egg yolks and wondering what to do with the egg whites. Love mascarpone too. I think I could feel the summer in Australia now.
I always avoided the strawberry in Neapolitan ice cream as well… unless I was feeling sorry for it that it wasn’t getting eaten! Your ice cream looks fantastic – shame I don’t have an ice cream machine to make it with (yet!)
I most definitely agree about strawberry ice-cream and cherry-flavoured things tasting nothing like the actual food. ‘Cherry-flavoured’ tends to translate into meaning tasting like childhood cough syrup – bleurgh!
Summer for me means looking forward to an abundance of berries, and stonefruits like mango, peaches and nectarines. Mmmm…
The heat yesterday was a little unbearable! However we had lots of watermelon to beat off the heat. These ice creams look adorable! I can’t say I am brave enough to add balsamic vinegar or black pepper though. I too am not a fan of fake fruit flavours either.
I would like to second this question that was mentioned by another respondent. Is there a way to make ice cream without an ice-cream maker?
those mini cones are so cute – just the right size (i always feel guilty when i have a whole large waffle icecream cone to myself, always sharing with richard if i do hehe)
I must confess, I love banana lollies – the powdery sort of ones in the shape of a banana that is.
From many years of experience eating snakes, skittles, jellybeans, jelly babies, etc etc, I have noticed that even though artificial strawberry flavour is often gross, in this case it is the top choice of most people, myself included. The red and purple lollies always go first, but no-one wants the orange, yellow, or green ones, ESPECIALLY not yellow or green. Ewww. And I’m not even going to start on the black. Red starbursts, on the other hand, which are cherry flavoured, are repulsive and medicinal in flavour. This is the word of a sweet tooth.
Oops, I forgot to mention that the ice-creams look wonderful, especially on a day like yesterday! That was actually the reason I commented haha, guess I didn’t realise how passionately I felt about lollies.
OMG this looks so delicious. I currently have an icecream maker on layby, so I have printed out this recipe and will be making this one.
As for summer friut, has to be mango. I usuall have it on its own or in a salad with spinach, chicken, macadamia nuts and a ranch dressing.
divine …
Wow that looks fantastic. I hate fake fruit flavazzz myself.
It looks so pretty and delicious! I have so many favorite summer fruits! Any berry will do.
Stay Cozy, Carrie
Hmmm looks awesome..
What do I do if I do not have a ice cream machine?
Mmmmm, summer fruit. I am a sucker for peaches. Although, I almost always cook them. Ninety percent of the time they end up being so flavourless, so I cook them up. Roasted with a coating of brown sugar, poached in sugar syrup – then they have so much recipe potential. They become my favourite summer fruit cooking obsession.
Wow, that certainly does look refreshing. It’s so warm here I think I could eat all those scoops in the picture!
Can I just say fun noodles are my favorite, and I am having such a hard time finding them here… I miss Yum Cha where they cut it with scissors? Mascarpone has been on my mind since last week… but in ice-cream… that is just so lush…
Fake Banana is the worst. Your recipe looks great except I dont think I will make my own Mascarpone.
I’m with you on that, darling – fake fruit is the worst! Ew! :S
Those ice cream cones are so pretty – such a beautiful styling, Lorraine!
Cherries would be my favorite summer fruit – love to eat tons of it plain. Yum!
“there are some things that I just cannot abide by and one of them is fake fruit flavour…”
AMEN. also, amen. i imagine that this ice cream does indeed taste a lot like strawberry cheesecake, which is one of the finest desserts i’ve had. delightful.
So pretty, so dainty, so girly. I like!!!
I love the bright red against the white in the mixer. I like my strawberry ice cream with ripples.
Hi Lorraine,
I was working in Melbourne so missed out on joining you on Simon’s ABC radio show. Hope our paths cross soon. And I am definitely going to try your strawberry mascarpone ice-cream. After my MasterChef pressure test disaster I went out and bought an ice cream machine and have been madly churning ever since!Indira
Just in the past few months, I have really enjoyed making homemade ice cream and am thrilled to get this recipe. I’m going to make it, post it on my blog and of course credit you for it. Thanks so much.
This looks lovely! Now if only it wasn’t so cold here…. or maybe it’s just an excuse to have some ice cream with a hot brownie.
Yum! I absolutely love my ice-cream machine – nothing beats the luscious taste of home-made ice-cream. I’ll have to try this recipe, it sounds soooo good.
Hmm I can totally imagine how good this must taste in my mouth! Don’t you just love the smell of pureed fresh strawberries from the food processor?
my favourite summer fruit is definitely mangos – eat as is, frozen mango slices, mango margarita etc. I can’t wait for their price to come down soon, and i’ll get a boxful!
Yummie,,,,,such nice looking icecream,must be delicious!
The icecream machine I had on layby…my sister paid the rest and gave it today for my birthday. Guess what I’ll be making this weekend?!?!
Me again. I made this icecream yesterday. OMG so delicious. I used the 4 leaf balsamic vinegar (sweeter) and you can’t even tell it’s in the icecream. I omitted the black pepper. Definately be making this one again.
Only problem I had was that I only have a 2lt bowl and this was slight over, but still worked out.
Do you have any other icecream recipes?
Hi Sean-Thankyou! Yes it’s such a good tip isn’t it!
HI Rosa-Thanks!
Hi nora-THankyou!
Hi buggy-Ahh great idea!
Oh fake banana …i run screaming from that! 
Hi jules-Haha did you! Isn’t that funny?
Hi The Duo Dishes-Thankyou so much!
Hi Lulu- just a little it of it, not a lot I promise!
Hehe how cute! 
Hi holly-Hehe do you? I can’t say that I like that flavour but hey that means more for you!
Hi Barbara- thanks mum! xxx
Hi Anita, yes it’s such an easy recipe!
Hi Liss, how about both?
Greta idea, I want to go cherry picking too!
Hi Trissa, I bought them from Pink Frosting!
Hi Lauren-OH fabulous, I hope you like it!
Hi Kyle-Thankyou so much, photographing ice cream is my least favourite thing to photograph!
Hi Betty-Hehe only if desperate yes!
Thankyou!
Hi Shotochick-Oh no! I hope you’re feeling better now?
Hi jess-Thankyou! Yes no need for one here
Hi Matilda-Yum! Great idea, I know we would if we bought a box full!
Hi Pat-It is, I’ve added some instructions to help with that. Thankyou so much!
Hi Jacinta-It;s very easy indeed! Oh no you poor thing!
Hehe that is so cute! 
Hi Chris-Thankyou! Yes it’s the ideal antidote for heat!
Hi Julie-Thankyou so much!
HI lisa-Thankyou very much! I love this combo
Hi Cakelaw-Those two fruits are my favourite too! I love tropical fruit a lot
Hi Lauren-Thankyou!
Hi Conor-Yes it doesn’t taste much like watermelon does it?
I love frozen grapes too!
Hi Johanna-Interesting! This hasn’t got any colouring in it though, only strawberries!
Hi Wizzy-OH what a shame, maybe a visit to Australia is in order!
Hi Suzanne-Thanks, yes I used a batch I made myself!
Hi Faith-OH no, yes isn’t that the way but when they come along it’s so exciting! Thankyou so much! Haha maybe it’s the great problem solver flavour so that everyone is satisfied
Hi Divina-Yes that is so true! So frustrating isn’t it!
Hi Jacq-Haha you were such a nice kid!
Hi ms délicieuse-Yes it tastes like cough syrup doesn’t it! Yuk!!! Yum yes all those gorgeous white peaches and nectarines!
Hi clekitty-Wasn’t it just! Good plan, beating heat through fruit!
Hi Einna-I’ve made some changes to it
Hi Betty-Hehe they’re good, 1 or even 2 is tiny!
Hi Alex-Haha yes I don’t like licorice so I always avoid the darker colours unless Mr NQN can taste them for me. Thankyou! I love how much you love lollies!
Hi Vanessa-Fantastic, I hope you like it!
Yes mangoes are really versatile aren’t they! 
Hi Trish-Thankyou!
Hi justJENN-It completely sucks doesn’t it
Hi Carrie-Mmmm berries are so delicious and good for you too!
Hi CHARMAINE-I’ve amended things just in case
Hi Theresa-That’s what I do if they’;re not good
Yes then they taste like they’re supposed to taste! 
Hi Julia-hehe thankyou!
Hi April Marie-Hehe thankyou so much! Oh yes it’s good when they cut them-easier for sharing then!
Hi Katherine-Hehe you don’t need to!
Hi Patricia-Thankyou sweetie!
I’m so with you on cherries!
Hi grace-Why thankyou ma’am!
Hi The Little Teochew-Thanks so much!
Hi Christie-Me too! I’m sort of obsessed with ripples. I couldn’t keep enough of them in this one though!
Hi Indira-I know, such a shame we missed each other. Oh fantastic, can’t wait to read about your ice creams!
Hi Lea Ann-Oh fantastic, well I hope you like it!
Hi Su-yin-Ooh I like your way of thinking!
Hi Nhat-I agree, home made ice cream is amazing!
Hi Yas-I do I do!
Hehe mango margarita-woohoo! 
Hi Beau-Thankyou!
Hi Vanessa-Oh fabulous! Have so much fun!
YAY I’m so glad that you liked it and Happy Birthday! 
I have a lot, check out my drop down menus on the right. There’s a whole section on ice cream 
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