Recipe for Baked Alaska
"This dessert, usually available only in the 'best' restaurants, is actually no more than cake and ice cream covered with meringue and browned quickly in a hot oven."
Sure when you phrase anything in one sentence it can seem super simple, right?!
A Brief History of Baked Alaska
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson was the first to serve ice cream at a banquet at the White House.
Remember he is also the same president who served mac and cheese at a state dinner.
It was at this same dinner that he also also reported to have served ice cream in a hot pastry that would be similar to a Baked Alaska.
Omelette Surprise was reportedly first invented by Benjamin Thompson Rumford. This was very close to our modern recipe for Baked Alaska.
In 1855, the cookbook The Philadelphia Housewife, contained a recipe for Baked Alaska Apple Pie.
In 1867, to commemorate the United States purchase of Alaska from Russia, Chef Charles Ranhofer prepared a cake hollowed out and filled with marmalade, topped with ice cream, and covered with meringue.
In 1896, the Original Fannie Farmer Cookbook contained the first recipe and name of the famed Baked Alaska.
There is also a mysterious story of Chinese diplomats teaching a french chef on how to make an ice cream dessert wrapped in a hot pastry.
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I chose Mr. Brown of Good Eats because I totally trust his recipes as tried and true!
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Now every Baked Alaska can be prepared different. You can have different cake and ice cream. Even different techniques for browning the meringue.
You can brown your cake in the oven, use a torch to brown with a flame, or do a flambe!
Now
Flambe can be tricky. Don't use a lot of your flaming liquid and it HAS TO BE FOOD GRADE. Don't use gasoline please.
Just be very very careful
And maybe call your insurance company and have the fire department on standby.
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