What is Baked Alaska? | How to Make Baked Alaska | 3 Tips for Styling Baked Alaska | Essential Kitchen Tools
This Baked Alaska recipe couldn’t be tastier, and it is perfect for a celebration! The ice cream flavors meld perfectly together with the brownie layer, and the Italian meringue adds that perfect finish to this impressive dessert. Read below for helpful tips and the recipe.
What is Baked Alaska?
Baked Alaska, also known as Omelette Norvégienne, is traditionally composed of ice cream, sponge cake, and meringue. After assembling the layers, the dessert goes into the oven or gets torched to give it that beautiful golden color.
This recipe is not to be confused with flambe Alaska, which is doused in alcohol and lit on fire for an impressive display.
For this particular baked Alaska recipe, we use a brownie layer instead of cake to make it a brownie baked Alaska, but the concept is still the same regardless of what the base layer is.
The origin of baked Alaska is questionable. There are various opinions on who created it and when, but some stated that it was invented back in the 1800s in France.
But let’s be honest, it doesn’t matter who created it at this point. What matters is that it was indeed invented and is wonderful to eat!
As a note, making the ice cream from scratch is very impressive, but it’s perfectly fine to use high-quality store-bought ice cream. In fact, I only used one layer of homemade ice cream in this recipe, and I bought the other two. This dessert is supposed to be minimal effort, but high visual and flavor impact!
How to Make Baked Alaska
As a quick note, this Baked Alaska recipe is an intermediate dessert because of the Italian meringue component. Don’t let that scare you away though. If you follow the directions, the meringue should turn out beautifully! The inside components of this dessert are super easy to make. See the quick overview below.
- First, line a bowl with plastic wrap. Soften some vanilla bean ice cream and raspberry sorbet.
- Combine the vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet to make a very light pink. Spread about a 3/4 inch layer into the bowl. Freezer for 30 minutes.
- Make the second layer a slightly darker shade of raspberry by adding more raspberry sorbet to the vanilla ice cream. Create another 3/4 inch layer and freeze.
- Top with a layer of pure raspberry sorbet and fresh raspberries. Freeze again.
- Add a layer of chocolate ice cream and the brownie base layer, and freezer for 2-3 hours.
- Make the Italian meringue. Remove the ice cream bombe from the bowl and take off the plastic wrap. Then place it on a platter or cake stand. Spread the meringue on top and torch to brown the exterior.
- Serve the brownie baked Alaska immediately or freezer until ready to use.
3 Tips for Styling Baked Alaska
First, whip the Italian meringue to stiff or medium stiff peaks so that it’s easy to work with. If the meringue is too soft, it will be impossible to create those pretty peaks and swirls.
Second, use an offset spatula to spread and swirl the meringue onto the ice cream bombe. The offset spatula will allow you to create movement in the meringue.
To get those peaks, use the end of the spatula to pull the meringue up and out in various spots on the dessert. This gives the dessert that feels of movement and emotion that we want to evoke.
Third, while you can bake this dessert in the oven for even browning, it is more interesting to use a torch to highlight areas, deepen the color of various edges, and create more dimension. If you have a torch, it’s definitely the way to go every time!
Essential Kitchen Tools
- An 8 inch mixing bowl, preferrably that is 4 inches tall
- An offset spatula
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Baked Alaska Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 5 hours
- Yield: 12–16 servings 1x
- Category: cake
Ingredients
For the Ice Cream Bombe
- Vanilla bean ice cream, 2-3 cups (can use store-bought too)
- High quality raspberry sorbet, approx. 3 cups (1.5 pints)
- High quality chocolate ice cream, 2-3 cups
- 1 – 6 oz container fresh raspberries
- Zest of 1/2 a lime
For the Brownie Layer
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 Tbs unsalted butter
- 5 Tbs canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 Tbs cocoa powder, Dutch-processed
- 1 Tbs cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
For the Italian Meringue
- 100 grams or 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 225 (1 cup + 2 Tbs) grams granulated sugar
- 55 grams (approx. 3 3/4 Tbs) water
Instructions
To Make the Ice Cream Bombe
- First, line an 8 inch bowl (that’s approx. 4 inches tall) with plastic wrap. Soften the vanilla bean ice cream and raspberry sorbet.
- Combine the vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet to make a very light pink and spread about a 3/4 inch layer into the bowl. You will need a ratio of about 5:1 for the lightest pink, but it doesn’t have to be exact. Freezer for 30 minutes. (Make the brownie layer at this point so it has time to cool. See directions below.)
- Make the second layer a slightly darker shade of raspberry by adding more raspberry sorbet to the vanilla ice cream. Create another 3/4 inch layer and freeze.
- Top with a 3/4 inch layer of pure raspberry sorbet, and then top with fresh raspberries. Freeze again for 30 minutes.
- Soften the chocolate ice cream and smooth out a 3/4 inch layer of chocolate ice cream on top of the raspberries.
- Sprinkle the lime zest on top of the chocolate ice cream and freeze again for another 30 minutes.
To Make the Brownie Layer
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch round metal pan with a foil that overhands the edges. Press the foil into the corners, smooth it out on the bottom and sides, and then spray with nonstick spray.
- Combine the butter and chocolate in a bowl and microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. Stir every 30 seconds to help the chocolate and butter come together.
- Pour chocolate into a large bowl along with the oil and vanilla, and stir until thoroughly mixed.
- Next, add the eggs and both sugars to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Turn the mixer onto medium high and mix for 1 minute to make the eggs creamy and light.
- Gently fold the eggs into the chocolate mixture until combined. Be careful not to deflate the eggs, patience is key while folding.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and gently fold just until combined. Don’t skip the sifting step! It makes the dry ingredients nice and light and gets ride of lumps.
- Do NOT over stir. Once the flour is fully incorporated, pour the brownie batter into the foil lined pan and smooth out.
- Bake on the middle rack for 30-36 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs on it. The crumbs should still be moist and slightly gooey. If they are dry, then the brownies have over baked. Err on the side of under baking than over baking because the brownies will continue to cook some when they are cooling in the pan.
- Leave the brownies in the pan until cool. Remove the brownie from the foil and place upside down on top of the chocolate ice cream layer. Freeze for at least 1 hour, and then make the Italian meringue.
To Make the Italian Meringue
- Follow the recipe here.
- Remove the brownie Baked Alaska from the freezer and place on a serving plate or cake stand. Spoon the Italian meringue on top, and use an offset spatula to smooth and swirl the meringue. Use the end of the spatula to create swirls and peaks in the meringue if desired.
- Use a torch to brown the meringue, or place in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Slice and serve immediately or freeze the entire dessert until ready to serve.
- You can make this baked Alaska recipe a few days ahead before serving, but do not cover with cling wrap since the Italian meringue doesn’t fully harden in the freezer. Otherwise, the cling wrap will stick to the meringue and ruin it.
Notes
This is a Baker Street Society original recipe.
Keywords: ice cream bombe, brownie baked alaska, baked alaska recipe
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