Another Year, Another Baked Alaska

If we always start his birthday with crêpes, we always end it with a Baked Alaska. He is definitely a creature of habit. Thankfully we weren't camping or hauling the dessert anywhere. We made and served it within 10 feet of the kitchen. Easy.

Really this dessert is all about the presentation. You need a cake, gluten-free for us in this case as Jake and R's best buddy are both gluten-free; you need ice cream, frozen into a bowl; you need whipped egg whites; and you need an oven or a culinary torch, we had the latter. 

Happy birthday to Riley!! Fifteen? I'm still reeling from that one. And, yes, I bought the chocolate cake base this year. It's been a tough couple of weeks as the school year wraps up. And I didn't feel like hauling cake batter to a friend's or my mom's oven. Don't judge.

Ingredients

• cake (I used a store-bought flourless chocolate cake)
• ice cream (I used coffee ice cream)
• 8 egg whites
• 2 T organic granulated sugar
• Also needed: butane torch, plastic wrap

Procedure

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 coffee ice cream.

Once you're all set to assemble, separate 8 eggs, placing the whites in a large stainless steel bowl. Add 2 T organic granulated sugar. [I forgot the sugar last night. It was fine.] Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Place the cake on your serving dish. 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. Spread the meringue all the way to dish to seal. Return to freezer until ready to serve.

Traditionally, you brown this in the oven. Since my oven is still out of commission, I decided to brown the peaks with my torch. It was simple and might be the way I make Baked Alaska from now on. Serve immediately!