Baked Alaska is the best dessert ever because it encourages pyrotechnics. Well, if you like that sort of thing, and personally, I love it when playing with fire is social acceptable.
Baked Alaska is an ice cream cake for grown-ups with layers of ice cream over cake, covered in Swiss meringue, and then flambed or toasted.
Mix and match ice cream and cake flavors till you find a personal favorite. You can make them individual size, too.
Here you will find the Martha Stewart recipe I used, and below are a few of my hints for making your frozen dessert a success.
TIPS:
1) This is a make-ahead dessert choice. If you don't have time to enjoy the many hours journey, don't choose it.
2) Forget baking the cake from scratch. Use Sara Lee's frozen pound cake for vanilla or whip up a cake mix. Double the vanilla (or add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you're using chocolate) to cut the boxed flavor.
3) Beat your Swiss meringue for at least 10 minutes. Yes, I know your hand is getting tired holding the mixer, but I promise that longer is better so the meringue stays up around the cake.
4) If you are serving this for company and it is your chef's night off, whip the meringue before your guests arrive, cover the cake with meringue, and put the cake back in the freezer till you are ready to serve. It should be fine for at least the few hours between when you finish, the guests come, and time to serve.
5) Soak sugar cubes in a flavored extract (peppermint, orange, coconut), place the sugar cubes around and on the cake, and ignite (light with a match) for presentation. I broiled the cake first at 500 degrees to make sure that the meringue browned and then lit the sugar cubes for effect.
6) Vanilla extract, vodka, tequila, and rum do not work as pyrotechnic agents. Trust me. I tried them.
5) Freeze your dessert plates. Pull out them out just as you are cutting the cake.
Baked Alaska is an ice cream cake for grown-ups with layers of ice cream over cake, covered in Swiss meringue, and then flambed or toasted.
Mix and match ice cream and cake flavors till you find a personal favorite. You can make them individual size, too.
TIPS:
1) This is a make-ahead dessert choice. If you don't have time to enjoy the many hours journey, don't choose it.
2) Forget baking the cake from scratch. Use Sara Lee's frozen pound cake for vanilla or whip up a cake mix. Double the vanilla (or add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you're using chocolate) to cut the boxed flavor.
3) Beat your Swiss meringue for at least 10 minutes. Yes, I know your hand is getting tired holding the mixer, but I promise that longer is better so the meringue stays up around the cake.
4) If you are serving this for company and it is your chef's night off, whip the meringue before your guests arrive, cover the cake with meringue, and put the cake back in the freezer till you are ready to serve. It should be fine for at least the few hours between when you finish, the guests come, and time to serve.
5) Soak sugar cubes in a flavored extract (peppermint, orange, coconut), place the sugar cubes around and on the cake, and ignite (light with a match) for presentation. I broiled the cake first at 500 degrees to make sure that the meringue browned and then lit the sugar cubes for effect.
6) Vanilla extract, vodka, tequila, and rum do not work as pyrotechnic agents. Trust me. I tried them.
5) Freeze your dessert plates. Pull out them out just as you are cutting the cake.
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