If you have never made baked Alaska, then you’re missing out on the fun of this delightful dessert. Baked Alaska is the perfect combination of 3 basic desserts: ice cream, cake, and meringue. This chilly-yet-baked dessert is great for birthday parties, easy to make, and everyone will absolutely love it.
Let’s get started!
Preparing the ice cream
1. Find your ice cream prep ingredients! You will need a pound cake, crushed chocolate wafers, 1 pint of vanilla ice cream, 1 quart of chocolate ice cream, and 1 pint of raspberry and passion fruit or other sorbet.
2. Transfer all the ice cream to the refrigerator for 15 minutes to soften.
3. Brush a metal bowl with vegetable oil and line the bowl with plastic wrap with a few inches overlap on each side. Press to smooth.
4. Fill the metal bowl with sorbet, chocolate ice cream, and vanilla ice cream using a rubber spatula.
5. Cover the top with plastic wrap and then freeze until the ice cream is very hard. Remember to pack the ice cream densely so that there are no air pockets in the final cake.
6. Remove the plastic wrap, sprinkle chocolate wafer crumbs, and re-cover with the plastic wrap. Press lightly to adhere the plastic wrap and transfer the bowl to the freezer for 30 minutes.
7. Remove the bowl from the freezer. Remove the plastic wrap and spread the remaining chocolate ice cream on top of the crumbs.
8. Cut your pound cake into slices and completely cover the ice cream with the slices, trimming as needed. Gently fold the plastic wrap edges over the ice cream to cover it. Freeze until completely solid, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
Making the meringue
1. Get your ingredients together! You can make meringue with 1 cup of sugar, a pinch of cream of tartar, and 6 large egg whites.
2. Whip up your meringue! Add the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until foamy. (Cream of tartar helps the meringue keep its shape, allowing the eggs to solidify under the stress of mixing).
3. Continually beat in the sugar on high speed until the meringue holds glossy and stiff peaks.
Build your baked Alaska
1. Remove the cake from the freezer.
2. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap, and then invert the cake onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and finally remove the remaining plastic wrap.
3. Use a spatula to disperse the meringue on the cake in decorative swoops and swirls making the dome-shaped top somewhat thicker than the sides. Freeze again for at least three more hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 500°F and bake for 4 minutes or until the meringue on the outside start to turn a golden-brown color.
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5. For easier slicing, transfer your baked Alaska to the refrigerator to soften slightly and let the cake stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Now you’re ready to slice, serve, and enjoy.
