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Ever since #bingate on Bake Off a few years ago my mum and I have wanted to make a Baked Alaska. A Baked Alaska is a great dessert for a summer party consisting of a sponge cake base, topped with a mound of ice cream! The whole thing is then finished with a layer of Italian meringue which is blow-torched to give a really cool effect.
I opted for a Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska with a light, fluffy walnut sponge, topped with three layers of different ice cream: chocolate, hazelnut (my favourite!) and walnut. This dessert will serve about 10-12 people and any leftovers can easily be kept in the freezer. All elements can be adapted according to your taste and needs, making this the perfect, crowd-pleasing summer dessert!
Do you remember the Baked Alaska “Bingate” Incident from GBBO?
The bakers were tasked with making a Baked Alaska in the showstopper round on the Great British Bake Off a few years ago (season 5). It was a really hot day, which made working with ice cream tricky anyway, but one of the contestants removed someone else´s (Ian´s) Baked Alaska from the freezer and the whole thing melted! Ian was then so annoyed that he threw everything in the bin and stormed off! He ended up having to carry up the bin to the judging table at the end of the round and let´s just say Mary and Paul were not impressed!
Ian left that day, but there was a lot of controversy over whether he should have left or the lady that (accidentally?) removed his ice cream from the freezer thereby jeopardizing his bake… I don´t think Ian handled the situation very well, but I personally also felt she should have left, not him…
This is quite a funny article about the greatest GBBO scandals over the last few seasons if you want to give it a read: https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/great-british-bake-off-scandals-the-shows-most-controversial-moments-from-bingate-to-custard-a3975331.html
What will you need to make a Baked Alaska?
Although it´s not difficult to make a Baked Alaska, you do need a bit of equipment to make life easier for you.
20cm Round Spring-Clip Baking Tin:
To make the cake, you will need a 20cm round spring-clip baking thin like this one. A sandwich tin will probably not be deep enough for the amount of cake mix in this recipe. If the bowl (see below) you are using has an opening slightly smaller than 20cm you can simply trim the sides of the cake in order to fit the bowl. And then snack on the off cuts! Win-win!
3L Bowl with a ~20cm Diameter Opening:
You´ll need a bowl with a capacity of roughly 3L and a 20cm wide opening (to fit the cake) to make this Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska. If your bowl isn´t the perfect size, you can always downscale the recipe a little and simply use a little less ice cream and trim the cake according to the size of your bowl.
-> Clingfilm: Don´t forget to make sure all the sides of the bowl are lined with clingfilm so that it is easy to demould the ice cream before you put on the meringue.
Electric (Free-Standing) Mixer:
For the cake, I´d highly recommend using an electric whisk as it is made with the creaming method which requires a lot of beating of the butter and sugar to incorporate air into the cake. For the Italian meringue especially, an electric whisk is essential and life is a lot easier if you have a free-standing electric mixer. This makes it a lot easier when pouring in the hot sugar syrup. Also, the meringue needs to be whipped for about 20-25 minutes in total, so it is nice if you don´t have to stand over the bowl for that entire time! I´m certainly glad I made this at home with our KitchenAid!
Sugar Thermometer:
In order to cook the egg whites when making an Italian meringue, a boiling sugar syrup is poured into the egg whites whilst whipping. The sugar syrup needs to be at a temperature of 116°C, so it is best to use a sugar thermometer to gage the temperature accurately.
Small angled palette knife:
A small angled palette knife is an essential tool for any baker I think, and it is definitely very useful to have on hand for this recipe. The palette knife will be excellent for distributing and swirling the meringue over the ice cream dome!
Blow Torch:
Ah, blow torches are so much fun! I got one for Christmas this year and I have been desperate to finally give mine a go! Blow torching the Italian meringue gives your Baked Alaska a really nice finish! If you don´t have a blow torch, I have seen other recipes saying that 3-4 minutes in the oven under a hot grill also does the trick. But I didn´t try it, so I can´t say if it works or if that won´t make the ice cream underneath melt too much… Might be worth a try though, you could always stick it back into the freezer for a few minutes after browning the meringue in the oven.
The three key elements of a Baked Alaska
As outlined above, a Baked Alaska is made up of three main elements: sponge, ice cream and meringue. If using shop-bought ice cream it´s really not that difficult or time consuming to make, but still looks impressive and would be great to serve to dinner guests.
Let´s look through each individual component in turn:
Sponge Base
For the sponge base, I opted for a light sponge with pieces of walnuts in it, as I was wanting to make a Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska (my favourite combination!). The recipe is based on the sponges I used to make this Frosted Walnut Layer Cake and I made the sponge in a 20cm round tin. The cake is made using the creaming method, so it´s important you cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until pale and fluffy, as this is how you incorporate air into the sponge. Then add the eggs slowly, a little at a time, beating well between each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling. A little trick from me, add a tablespoon of flour with the last bit of egg to further prevent curdling.
You can, of course, omit the walnuts in the sponge if you don´t want them. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to make a vanilla-flavoured sponge or use some cocoa powder to turn it into a chocolate-flavoured one. The possibilities are endless!
Ice Cream
The “classic” version of a Baked Alaska often uses “Neapolitan” ice cream flavours, i.e. chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. But for my Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska version I opted for chocolate, hazelnut, and walnut ice cream. Again, the choice of ice cream is completely up to you and this is a great place to “make the recipe your own” and go for whatever flavours you like best!
I used shop-bought ice cream to make the Baked Alaska, for one to make life easier but also because I don´t have an ice cream maker! I wish I had… So, if you do have one, feel free to also make your own ice cream!
Italian Meringue
To finish off the dessert, the sponge and ice cream is topped with a layer of meringue. This recipe used Italian meringue where the egg whites are cooked by whisking boiling sugar syrup into it. The sugar syrup must be heated to 116°C, so it is good if you have a sugar thermometer to hand. If not, you can try to roughly gage when it´s at the right temperature (the syrup should be rapidly boiling) but it´s a lot better to be accurate and use a thermometer.
The egg whites are beaten until they start to stiffen, then the hot sugar syrup is added to the bowl in a thin, steady stream whilst you continue to beat the egg whites on a high speed. As you add the sugar, a thick, glossy meringue will form. The meringue is then whipped for a further 15-20 minutes to cool it down, so it is ideal if you have a free-standing electric mixer so that you don´t have to whisk it yourself for that long a time!
More Crowd-Pleasing Desserts
What better way to end a dinner party than with a dessert? Sometimes it can be hard to think of what to make that will please everyone, but I think this Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska is certainly one of them! If you are looking for more inspiration for crowd-pleasing desserts, why not check out some of my other recipes below?
- 6 Crowd-Pleasing Dessert Recipes
- Classic British Trifle | Easy, No-Bake Dessert
- Meringue Roulade with Strawberries and Cream
- No-Bake Lemon and Ginger Nut Cheesecake
- Easy Tiramisu Recipe
- Chocolate Pavlova with Bailey´s Irish Cream
- “Lighter” Lemon and Quark Cheesecake
- No-Bake Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
- Bailey´s Chocolate Orange Trifle
Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE SPONGE CAKE
- 100g butter, softened
- 10g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 100g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
FOR THE ICE CREAM FILLING
- ½ large tub (~5-6 scoops) walnut ice cream
- ¾ large tub (~6-8 scoops) hazelnut ice cream
- ¾ large tub (~8-10 scoops) chocolate ice cream
FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE
- 2 large egg whites
- 120g caster sugar
- 3 tbsp water
Method:
- Start by preparing the walnut sponge cake. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease the sides of the tin with some melted butter, line the base with some baking parchment and dust the sides with a little flour.
- Combine the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and coat the chopped walnuts in them. This will prevent the walnuts from sinking in the sponge whilst baking. Set aside until needed.
- In a mixing bowl, use and electric hand whisk to cream together the butter and caster sugar for about 5 minutes until very pale and fluffy. Gradually add in the beaten egg, a little at a time, whisking well between each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour (try to avoid the walnuts) alongside the last bit of egg to prevent the mixture from curdling.
- Carefully fold in the flour, baking powder and chopped walnuts using a spatula or large metal spoon. Pour the mix into the prepared baking tin and level the surface using the back of a spoon.
- Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until springy to the touch and it starts shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Once baked, remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely.
- In the meantime, you can prepare the ice cream dome. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and leave it on the counter for a few minutes to soften slightly. Line a large glass bowl with a few pieces of clingfilm making sure all of the sides are covered.
- Start by scooping some of the walnut ice cream into the bowl, then use the back of a metal spoon to press down into a compact layer. Next, add the hazelnut ice cream and spread it as an even layer over the walnut ice cream. Repeat with the chocolate ice cream. Aim to fill the bowl to about ⅔ with ice cream, leaving some space at the top for the sponge. Cover with clingfilm and return to the freezer so that the ice cream can firm up again.
- Once completely cool, remove the cake from the tin and peel off the baking parchment from the bottom. Place the cake on top of the ice cream dome (you may need to trim the sides a little to fit the bowl), cover with clingfilm and return to the freezer until you have made the meringue.
- To make the Italian meringue, place the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan and gently heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Heat until the sugar syrup reaches a temperature of 116° on a sugar thermometer.
- Meanwhile, put the egg whites into a large mixing bowl (ideally of a free-standing electric mixer) and whisk on a medium-high speed until the whites form stiff peaks. Stop whisking at this stage and wait for the sugar syrup to reach the correct temperature.
- Once the sugar syrup has reached 116°C degrees, take off the heat. Turn on the whisk, then carefully and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup onto the egg whites near the side of the bowl in a thin but steady stream. Whisk the egg whites continuously as you do so until you have added all the sugar syrup and a thick, glossy white meringue forms. Continue beating the meringue for a further 15-20 minutes to cool it to room temperature.
- To assemble the Baked Alaska, remove the cake and ice cream from the freezer. Carefully turn the bowl upside down onto a serving plate or cake stand. Then lift the bowl off of the ice cream dome and remove the cling film.
- Working quickly, before it starts to melt, spoon the Italian meringue over the ice cream dome. Use a small angled palette knife or spoon to distribute it evenly over the ice cream and create little swirls.
- Finally, use a blow torch to carefully brown the meringue on the outside (don´t go too close or the meringue will burn) to create a nice effect. If you don´t have a blow torch, check the tips above.
- Cut into slices and serve immediately. Any leftover Baked Alaska can be covered in clingfilm and kept in the freezer.
