Baked Alaska Is The Most Impressive Ice Cream Cake We'll Never Get Tired Of

Delish

A classic nostalgic dessert, our baked Alaska recipe features a brownie base, three types of ice cream, and a torched homemade meringue.

Transcript

00:00 Hey y'all, it's Brooke and I'm in the Delish Kitchen studios.

00:03 And I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm quaking in my boots a little bit today

00:07 because I have to make a dessert that sounds so intimidating.

00:10 It's baked Alaska.

00:12 It's got layers of pistachio ice cream, strawberry ice cream, and vanilla ice cream

00:17 all on top of some sort of cakey base.

00:19 The most fun part of this recipe though is that we get to use a torch to light the whole thing on fire

00:24 to get that nice, lovely, swirly brown meringue on the outside.

00:28 First, we're gonna spray this bowl with a little bit of non-stick cooking spray

00:31 and then we're going to layer a sheet of plastic wrap on top

00:35 to make it easy to dislodge the whole ice cream dome later.

00:38 You want to make sure your bowl is big enough to leave a little bit of space

00:41 for when we're going to add that layer of brownie to the top.

00:44 Because when we flip it out, that brownie is going to be the bottom base.

00:48 Baked Alaska is all about that cross section when you slice into it

00:51 and the key to getting that is making sure your ice cream layers are flat

00:55 before you add another flavor.

00:57 We're gonna start with the pistachio ice cream.

00:59 Make sure you smooth it out nice and even with a rubber spatula.

01:02 Do the same with the strawberry layer and then finish with the vanilla layer

01:07 so that your top is nice and smooth like this.

01:10 Even though this isn't liquid and it's just softened,

01:12 we want to make sure we freeze the whole thing through completely

01:14 so that when we slice, we get a nice, clean slice.

01:17 Freezing it is also super important because when we put that meringue on top,

01:22 start torching it, we don't want the ice cream to melt.

01:24 I'm gonna go ahead and stick this in the freezer.

01:26 It needs at least four hours or overnight.

01:28 Please don't skimp, don't cheat yourself.

01:31 You will regret it, I promise.

01:32 Our ice cream is in the freezer and setting up,

01:35 so while that freezes, we're gonna work on the cake base for our baked Alaska.

01:40 I've got an eight-inch round cake pan.

01:42 You want to make sure that your cake pan fits into the top of the bowl

01:46 so that it's not too big to be the base of your ice cream dome.

01:50 I'm gonna put a little bit of baking spray on the bottom

01:53 to make sure the brownie can release easily.

01:55 We're gonna pour the brownie mix into the cake pan.

01:58 You're gonna bake these brownies for however long the box says to bake them for

02:02 for the size pan that you have.

02:03 So we've got our brownie layer all cooled and ready to go.

02:08 Our ice cream is frozen solid.

02:10 All we have to do now is just add this brownie to the ice cream.

02:14 We're gonna cover it back up a little bit,

02:15 and we're gonna freeze it for at least another hour

02:17 just so everything has a chance to meld together.

02:20 If you need to freeze it for a little bit longer

02:22 to get the rest of your party ready, you're more than welcome to do that.

02:25 But it needs at least an hour.

02:26 Now we're gonna do the most technically difficult part of a baked Alaska,

02:31 which is the meringue.

02:33 Keep it simple when you make meringue.

02:34 Don't try to do too much at once.

02:36 You're gonna start with the sugar syrup first.

02:39 Into the skillet over medium heat, we're gonna add some sugar and some water.

02:43 Don't stir it.

02:45 Just let it dissolve and turn into a sugar syrup.

02:48 Your sugar should not be turning that amber caramelly color that you would see

02:52 if you were gonna make caramel.

02:54 You still want it to be nice and clear.

02:56 It should not have any tint to it.

02:57 If you're looking for about 230 to really start whipping your egg whites,

03:01 use room temperature egg whites.

03:04 If you use cold egg whites, it won't get quite as fluffy.

03:06 Those room temperature egg whites will help incorporate everything a lot better.

03:10 We're gonna whip two egg whites with a little bit of cream of tartar

03:13 in our stand mixer until they get a little bit frothy.

03:16 When it gets to 240 degrees, we're gonna start streaming some of that sugar syrup

03:20 into the egg whites slowly while the stand mixer is still running.

03:25 What that's going to do is cook the eggs, so you won't be eating any raw eggs here, I promise.

03:31 And it's also gonna make the egg whites really nice and fluffy to make that

03:34 lovely pillowy, marshmallowy layer on the outside of our baked Alaska.

03:38 It's time for the most fun part of making baked Alaska,

03:41 and that's putting the meringue on and taking the torch to it.

03:46 This part has to move pretty quickly because the last thing you want is for your ice cream

03:50 to start melting. To get our brownie and ice cream layers out of the bowl that we have,

03:55 we're going to put our platter on top of the bowl, invert the whole thing,

04:00 and then use that layer of plastic wrap to help us dislodge the ice cream from the frozen bowl.

04:05 As soon as we get that onto the platter, we're gonna quickly get our meringue

04:10 and start working our way all around the ice cream and brownie dome

04:14 until we have a completely even layer covered on the outside.

04:17 Once we get our layer on, we're gonna start making cute little swoops with our spatula

04:22 so that the flame has something to catch, so that we have some contrast on the outside layer.

04:28 We want the meringue to look really textural and really beautiful.

04:31 That meringue layer should be on the thicker side. We want to make sure that there's enough

04:36 of a meringue layer between the ice cream and the heat from the torch so that the

04:40 ice cream doesn't just start melting. To get those lovely little swoops on top

04:44 of your baked Alaska that's going to give you all that texture and drama,

04:48 take the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, gently tap the meringue and pull it up,

04:53 and that'll give you a nice soft peak. The most fun part about making baked Alaska

04:57 is getting to torch that meringue on top, but it can be really easy to mess up.

05:01 So here's three ways to get it perfect. Number one, you want to make sure you keep your flame

05:06 a reasonable distance away from the meringue. Number two, keep it moving.

05:10 You don't want that flame concentrated in one spot because it's gonna melt your ice cream

05:14 and burn your meringue. Number three, make that extra trip to the hardware store instead

05:19 of the kitchen aisle in the grocery store. If you get a slightly bigger torch, the flame

05:24 will be bigger and it's much easier to control the consistency of the brownie on top of the meringue.

05:30 This is basically the birthday cake from all of my eight-year-old dreams.

05:33 So of course I'm excited to take a bite. This is my ideal dessert.

05:38 Everything's already built in. I've got three different flavors of ice cream,

05:41 so I don't have to pick just one. And there's a brownie base and there's marshmallow on top.

05:46 Like, what else could you possibly ask for? Also, it looks really elegant. I love how that slice has

05:51 the dramatic layering with the green and the pink and the white and the brown. And then especially

05:55 that fun swirly, swoopy meringue around the outside. It does not get any better than this,

06:00 guys. Usually folks will use like pound cake or something as the bottom layer for their baked

06:04 Alaska, but I love what the brownie brings to this. It's definitely a nice contrast from the

06:09 fruity and nutty ice cream to have something rich and chocolatey, but sturdy enough to hold up all

06:14 those ice cream layers. If you're looking for more low lift but beautiful desserts just like this one,

06:19 keep it right here at Delish.com.

06:21 (upbeat music)

06:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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