Christine MacManus, of Harbour Island in Narragansett, serves a shortcake concoction involving ginger ice cream, peaches, raspberries and nasturtiums on her deck overlooking Point Judith Pond.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

Ginger ice cream, smooth and creamy. Sweet fresh peaches. Tart, just-picked raspberries. Shortcake, warm from the oven.

And all of it served on a shady, flower-bedecked porch overlooking sparkling Point Judith Pond.

Oh, my search for South County’s best ice cream got off to a flying start this week, all right.

How do I keep this thing going all year?

WHEN I WROTE last week about wanting to find the region’s best ice cream, I hoped there would be some response. But I didn’t expect to find a gem like Christine MacManus.

MacManus was one of more than a dozen readers who sent me notes about their favorite ice-cream spots. But she was the only one who included a recipe.

“Our big discovery last summer was Ginger Ice Cream at Brickley’s in Wakefield,” she wrote. “This ice cream was so amazingly good that we sat down and invented a summer dessert just to celebrate it.

“After buying it by the quart,” she continued, “we bake a fresh shortcake, and serve that warm from the oven with fresh sliced ripe peaches, then top it with the ice cream. Unbelievable!”

She went on to add the recipe for the shortcake, “a good old-fashioned version.”

Well, who could resist that? So I wrote back to ask if she’d be making the recipe any time soon; it sounded like something we might take a photo of. She said she’d be making it in the next few days, and invited me over to taste it.

She didn’t have to ask me twice.

MacMANUS LIVES in a pretty A-frame on Harbour Island, that Narragansett garden spot on the pond, and garden spot is exactly the right term for it: her house is surrounded by gorgeous flowers planted by her husband, Richard (“I’m the assistant,” said Christine, who nonetheless is a mainstay of the island’s busy Garden Group). White, red, lavender, gold, orange and blue blossoms of several kinds run riot in a huge display that probably shouldn’t work, except it definitely does.

I see three birdhouses at the sides of the driveway, which may help explain the abundance of birdsong.

In the kitchen, the shortcake is hot from the oven. The recipe is the work of MacManus’ friend Jennifer Davis, who taught home economics in the next room when MacManus was teaching art at Wickford Middle School, before MacManus retired a dozen years ago.

“And I figured, anything a home ec teacher makes has got to be good,” she says.

The idea for combining it with the ginger ice cream came to MacManus after she’d encountered fried ginger ice cream at Seven Moons in North Kingstown, and loved it.

“That started this quest” for ginger ice cream, MacManus says. “I tried making it, and it wasn’t too bad. But then we found it at Brickley’s, and we said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ ”

MacMANUS BEGINS to assemble the shortcake, and seeing her do it is like watching something on the Food Network. She keeps up a running commentary that would do Rachael Ray proud.

“The key,” she says, slicing the cake, and placing it on a china plate, “is that the cake has to be freshly baked, and warm from the oven. Which it is.”

She adds some of the peaches, which she’s already sliced.

“And I bought the peaches a couple of days early, to make sure they’re ripe.”

She shakes a can of whipped cream and squirted some atop the cake and fruit.

“A purist would have whipped the cream, which I didn’t do,” she says. But the ease of the canned cream makes up for it.

“This is starting to look decadent!” she says.

MacManus’ sister, whose family has been building a place down the street for the last 10 years, had suggested the raspberries, which went on top of the whipped cream.

“Next door is a raspberry patch where they told me to help myself,” MacManus says. “So I have some for you today. We’re gilding the lily by putting on the raspberries.”

And the final decorative touch: “totally edible nasturtiums,” grown in a pot on her back porch.

“You almost don’t want to eat it,” says Journal photographer John Freidah admiringly. “It looks like artwork.”

“Oh, yes, you do want to eat it,” I counter firmly.

WE GO OUT to the porch, with its fabulous view of the flowers, the pond and its boats, including the late Rhode Island radio legend Salty Brine’s yacht, No School Foster-Glocester. Salty’s son, Boston radio personality Wally Brine, now owns the boat, MacManus says, and comes to Harbour Island almost every weekend in the summer.

And on that tree-shaded porch, MacManus and I try the shortcake, which lives up to my expectations. The ginger in the ice cream is not overpowering, but just spicy enough. Its creamy texture mixes wonderfully with the crunchy, crusty shortcake. And the tart berries and sweet peaches offset each other so that the whole dish becomes a parade of flavors.

The nasturtiums, MacManus says — and she’s right — add a strong taste that, while not unpleasant, makes the flowers better to look at than to eat.

There are lots of other ways you can serve the ginger ice cream, MacManus says. Her sister had suggested topping it with hot fudge. Caramel might work, too, my wife suggests later. And, of course, you could eat it plain, as photographer Freidah chooses to do.

But the shortcake MacManus created really is a work of art. She has given me a huge portion, made as much for Freidah’s camera as for tasting, and tells me not to worry if I don’t finish it.

I clean my plate.

OLD-FASHIONED SHORTCAKE

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (divided use)

1 egg

Approximately 3/4 cup milk

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

With one tablespoon of the butter, liberally grease the bottom of a 9-inch by 9-inch pan. Set aside.

Beat the egg in a measuring cup then add enough milk to the cup to measure 3/4 cup. Set aside

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the remaining 8 tablespoons of softened butter.

Make a well in this batter. Mix the egg/milk mixture into the well as gently as you can to blend. Turn the batter into the buttered pan. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes OR until it is golden brown. DO NOT over bake, as that can dry it out.

Serve warm from the oven. This cake pairs nicely with fresh strawberries, peaches or any seasonal fruit.

TIPS: Buy a fresh can of baking powder if you have a very old one, as the recipe needs the leavening.

To prepare ahead: Make the batter and create the egg mixture, but don’t blend until ready to bake and serve.

arosenbe@projo.com