Birthday Baked Alaska

Yesterday we had 10 kids over here all day plus their parents over for dinner after that. I didn't sit down for almost 12 hours!

As always, R requested a Baked Alaska for his dessert. I obliged, but I did use a boxed gluten-free mix for the cake since we had guests with celiac and my gluten-free (cake) baking skills leave much to be desired.

Make the cake and prepare the ice cream ahead of time so all you have to do is assemble and brown the meringue before serving this dramatic dessert.

*Note: the close-up photos of the Alaska - not the candles and singing - are from a previous post. Sorry, I didn't take any new close-ups last night.

Meringue Ingredients

• egg whites from 8 eggs
• dash of freshly ground salt
• 3 T organic powdered sugar

Procedure
For the ice cream, I usually do this the night before: line a bowl with plastic wrap, press slightly softened ice cream into the bowl, cover it tightly with more plastic wrap, and refreeze. For this cake I used Black Cherry Gelato.

Once you're all set to assemble, beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.

Place cake in the center of your serving platter. Turn molded ice cream out onto cake. Quickly and prettily spread meringue over cake - make sure to have lots of little peaks because that it what browns.

You can brown the meringe in the oven. Or, as I did last night, use a torch. If you use the oven, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake the Alaska on the lowest shelf, 8 to 10 minutes, or until meringue is lightly browned. Serve immediately!

 Happy birthday, R-ball!