Baked Alaska

Name: Baked Alaska
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 5 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: sponge cake layer 1 pcs; vanilla ice cream 700 g; egg whites 4 ea; sugar 140 g; vanilla extract 1 tsp; salt 0.1 tsp

Quick answer

Active time: 45 min
Waiting: See the steps
Level: Hard
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients: 6

About this dish

Whipped full of air, the meringue works as insulation, keeping a hot 230°C oven from reaching the ice cream inside.

The whole thing spends only a few minutes in the heat, just long enough to brown the swirled peaks. Vanilla extract beaten into the meringue warms in that short bake and comes through as aroma. Cut it open and the face shows three layers at once: toasted meringue, cold vanilla ice cream and soft sponge.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

sponge cake layer1 pcs

egg whites4 ea

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Instructions

6 steps

1

Set the sponge cake layer on a cold tray and mound 700 g vanilla ice cream into a compact dome on top.

Wrap it tightly in parchment and freeze for at least 4 hours until the center feels rock solid.
2

Put 4 egg whites and 0.1 teaspoon salt in a clean, completely dry bowl.

Whip on medium speed until the whites look foamy and evenly aerated, with no loose clear patches at the bottom.
3

Add 140 g sugar in three additions while whipping continuously so it dissolves into the foam instead of sinking.

Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, then stop when the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks.
4

Take the frozen cake out only when the meringue is ready, then coat the top and sides with a layer at least 2 cm thick.

Seal all the way down to the cake edge so oven heat cannot reach the ice cream.
5

Use a spatula or spoon to pull waves and peaks across the meringue surface; the raised ridges will brown first.

Preheat the oven fully to 230°C and keep the cake cold until the moment it goes in.
6

Bake for only 3 to 5 minutes in the preheated oven, removing it as soon as the meringue turns golden on the ridges.

Rest for about 1 minute, then cut with a warmed knife to show clean layers.