Baked Alaska Recipes

Baked Alaska Recipes Are Easy...
You Must Try It

You simply must try these authentic baked Alaska recipes! This is truly one of the world's most extraordinary desserts, yet it is quite easy and quite economical to make at home.

It simply requires sponge cake, ice cream, and meringue. And just imagine the taste of this authentic dish made with your own homemade sponge cake and freshly churned ice cream. Homemade ice cream works great with these baked Alaska recipes, as it can be frozen harder than the store-bought variety. The harder the ice cream freezes, the less it will melt during baking.

History of Baked Alaska

The history of baked Alaska recipes is sketchy at best. It is unknown when the dessert was first invented or by whom. Some historians credit the American physicist Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford, with its invention in 1804, but some say it first appeared in France in the mid 1800s. Others claim its origin lies much earlier with the Chinese.

It is known, however, that this unique dessert cake with its baked outer shell and frozen interior was served by French chef Charles Ranhofer to patrons at Delmonico's, the world-famous New York City restaurant, in 1867.

Chef Ranhofer created his version of baked ice cream to commemorate the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia, and he eventually named it Baked Alaska.

Popularly mocked in the press at the time as "Icebergia," Alaska was thought by many to be little more than a wasteland of ice and snow. The passage of time, however, has revealed quite the opposite. Alaska is now one of the richest and most beautiful areas of the world, and Ranhofer's classy, spectacular dessert which bears its name is no longer associated with folly, but with triumph.

Baked Alaska

One of the earliest baked Alaska recipes to be featured in a celebrated cookbook is this one taken from "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" by Fannie Farmer, published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, in 1896.

2-quart brick of ice cream, thin sheet sponge cake. Make meringue of eggs and sugar as in Meringue [below], cover a board with white paper, lay on sponge cake, turn ice cream on cake (which should extend 1/2 inch beyond cream), cover with meringue, and spread smoothly.

Place on oven grate [rack] and brown quickly in hot oven. The board, paper, cake, and meringue are poor conductors of heat, and prevent the cream from melting. Slip the paper on ice cream platter.

Meringue: Whites 6 eggs, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or 3/4 tablespoon vanilla. Beat whites until stiff, add sugar gradually and continue beating, then add flavoring.

Baked Ice Cream

This vintage baked ice cream recipe is taken from the book "Dainty Desserts for Dainty People" published by Charles B. Knox Co., in 1915. It is virtually identical to the early baked Alaska recipes.

Whites of six eggs, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, 2 quarts vanilla Philadelphia brick ice cream, thin sheet sponge cake, 1/4 teaspoonful vanilla. Meringue: beat whites of eggs until stiff and add sugar gradually while beating constantly, then add vanilla.

Cover a board with letter paper, lay on sponge cake, turn ice cream on cake, having cake extend one-fourth inch beyond cream. Cover with meringue and spread smoothly. Place on grate and brown meringue quickly in hot oven; slip from paper to serving dish.

Baked Alaska With Marshmallows

This nontraditional baked Alaska recipe made with marshmallows is fun to try. It is taken from one of my mother's old recipe scrapbooks, circa 1929.

This baked ice cream dessert is a delicious treat that's fun for kids to make with close adult supervision. Miniature marshmallows work well with this recipe and don't require cutting.

Place a slice of brick ice cream on an oven-safe dessert plate. Cover top and sides of ice cream with marshmallows. They can be made to stick by trimming their sides flat and dipping them in cold water. Put plates on a board (both non-conductors of heat) and toast in the oven.

Tips On Making Baked Alaska

Use any flavor of homemade ice cream in baked Alaska recipes; however, vanilla is the traditional flavor that is often used.

Instead of a board, a baking sheet or a double or triple layer of cardboard covered with aluminum foil may be used on the bottom.

After assembling the ice cream and cake, freeze it rock hard before covering it with meringue.

The meringue should thickly coat the ice cream. If you wish to follow tradition, reserve some meringue to pipe a decoration on the top. (The thick meringue coating and the board beneath the cake serve to insulate the frozen ice cream from the heat of the oven.)

Set your oven very hot for baked Alaska recipes, to at least 450�F, to brown the meringue quickly.

Be ready to serve immediately.

Baked Alaska recipes are frozen dessert recipes that you simply have to try. Otherwise, you will always be wondering what it tastes like. I'll give you a hint...AMAZING!

See for yourself. Make one of these easy dessert recipes tonight and you will amaze your family and friends. Baked Alaska is guaranteed to make any meal or party an occasion to be remembered.

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