Baked Alaska

Today's pudding to follow an awesome Sunday Roast was Baked Alaska.  Inspired by the need for something 'magical' to make at school for a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme, I hit upon the idea of Baked Alaska.  I have to say I was dubious as to whether it would actually work but gave it a trial anyway! 

Looking for a recipe it seems that a Baked Alaska basically consists of a layer of any kind of cake, ice cream and meringue.  Some recipes add fruit, jam or different flavoured ice cream or even add flavouring to the meringue!

I had some Jamaican Ginger Cake to use up so I formed a base in a square tin on some baking parchment to be on the safe side!  I would say if you want to serve this at the table to be extra impressive either make it on a tray with no lip or in a decent dish because serving gracefully is impossible!  I used some squashed up crumbs to fill in all the cracks so no filling could come through.

 

Next I lined a bowl with Clingfilm and filled with ice cream to shape, I wrapped the cling film over the top and put back in the freezer while I made the meringue using 3 egg whites and a pinch of salt whisked to form stiff peaks with 100g caster sugar added which was whisked until glossy.

 

Then came the construction!  I upturned the ice cream onto the cake and covered with meringue, making sure to seal the bottom! You can swirl with a fork to create some texture.

 



 You can bake straight away at 230 c for 5 minutes or you can make ahead and put the whole thing in the freezer until you're ready to bake this time for about 7-8 minutes.  Serve and eat immediately!!

We had ours with chocolate sauce made from 1oz butter melted with 10 squares of Bourneville chocolate with a squirt of salted caramel sauce added for good measure, I just microwaved it all together.