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baked alaska - with a difference

This recipe was published in the Sunday Telegraph on 19th March, 2006, and was part of a series of recipes given by John and Monique Davidson who wrote that it was an "adaptation of a recipe given to them by an English friend."

A true Baked Alaska is vanilla ice-cream wrapped in sponge and then covered in merangue. I find it a slightly disappointing dish, but this really improves it.

Serves 4

1 packet of sponge fingers (boudoir biscuits)
380g (13oz) frozen mixed berries
140g (5oz) caster sugar
500g (1lb 2oz) tub of good-quality vanilla ice-cream
6 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 230C/450°F/gas mark 8.
Put a layer of sponge fingers in the bottom of an ovenproof serving dish, roughly 26cm (10½in) square. Take the berries from the freezer and mix 115g (4oz) with an equal weight of caster sugar and 2 tbsp of hot water. (Leave the remaining berries out to defrost.) Set the mixture aside to soften and melt for an hour or so, the crush it and spread over the sponge fingers. Snip the rim of the ice-cream carton with scissors and peel it off. Slice the ice-cream into 1cm (½in) rounds. Top the fruit-smeared biscuits with a layer of ice-cream, filling any spaces, and put the dish in the freezer.

Just before you are ready to eat the baked alaska, beat the egg whites until they form peaks. Cover the ice-cream with the remaining berries, then the egg whites, making sure the egg whites cover everything, leaving no gaps between ice-cream and the heat of the oven. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and put into the oven to cook for two or three minutes. Watch the dish like a hawk, and serve the moment the top is browned.

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posted by morrice on 20 Mar 06 - 4068 views

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