A Mad Science Birthday Party-Baked Alaska Recipe

When my 6 year old son heard about the Baked Alaska Recipe we had to make for our UL and the Side of Safety contest last week he was instantly smitten. A dessert all about his home state, or maybe it was the fact that it was devoid of frosting(child hates frosting, FREAK!), or flamed, or baked ice cream or whatever it was he was determined to have one today for his seventh birthday party. I tried to sound enthusiastic but damn I was a little, um worried, but promised to try one, and secretly cringed.

The party was loosely based on Mad Science and included lots of things being blown up. I was a kitchen wench and stayed inside MOST all of the time, eating making salsa, drinking coffee cleaning up and in general staying warm busy. First the boys had an all out foam sword battle to warm them up, then mentos soda explosions, building model rockets, launching model rockets, dinner, The Absent Minded Professor movie, 'cake' and presents. They were tired, dirty, full and thoroughly beaten by the time they left. Another great party!

Making a Baked Alaska was truly not that hard, was easily broken down into steps with lots of time between each step, and looks pretty impressive when down. I'm going to say a stand mixer is a great thing to have for this recipe because you can make the meringue and walk away, plus your arm won't go numb from holding a mixer for 10 minutes or so. That being said OF COURSE you can use a hand mixer for the meringue.

Baked Alaska
plan for at least one day of work time to allow the layers to be completed
1 8-9 round cake easy recipe to follow
1 gallon of ice cream-you'll use less but have this much just in case you need it
1 recipe for meringue

find a nice bowl with an opening as wide as the round cake pan you are using
line the bowl with plastic wrap
let the ice cream soften slightly
then pack the bowl full of ice cream
cover with more plastic wrap and freeze about 8 hours
freeze the remaining ice cream for another use

when the ice cream is hardened remove it from the freezer to let it warm up a bit
meanwhile place the round cake on the cake plate-I used a pizza pan so I could run it under the broiler safely
invert the ice cream and layer it on the cake

put this back in the freezer for as long as you need to all that is left to do is add the meringue and brown it
10 minutes before show time turn the oven on to broil 500 degrees
remove the cake and ice cream combo from the freezer
'frost' the dessert with the meringue and then pop it under the broiler for 2 minutes
to brown up
alternately use a kitchen torch and evenly brown all around
to serve use a sharp knife and slice at the table to quickly serve your guests


Simple Chocolate One Layer Cake
oven 350˚

1 1/3 cup flour-(I used whole wheat figuring that the cake would be frozen and it would also need to be sturdy enough to hold 1/2 a gallon of ice cream)
1/4 cup cocoa powder-more to taste
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
 2/3 cup of milk
1/4 softened butter
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
preheat oven to 350˚
generously grease a 8-9 inch round cake pan
mix the dry ingredients
add the wet, stir until combined
then mix on high for one minute
pour into a greased round cake pan
bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick insert into middle comes out clean
cool in the pan for 10 minutes
then remove and cool completely
wrap loosely until ready to use
This is a wonderful quick cake that can be used in a myriad of ways, add bananas and chocolate sauce for a fun banana split treat, or caramel sauce and whipped cream, fresh fruit, the list can go on and on.

Easy Meringue

5 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla-use real it's the right thing to do
2/3 cup of sugar
put the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer
beat using a wire whisk until soft peaks form
continue beating while slowly adding the sugar
beat until stiff peaks form
this is an easy to make meringue that can easily be made ahead and left to make itself in the stand mixer while you get other things ready
it will even sit nicely for ten minutes or so
use as needed

The party was great, the food was great, the science was explosive and the Baked Alaska rocked. It was pretty neat to serve a frozen and cooked dessert to a group of 11 boys, they all seemed to appreciate the irony of broiled ice cream cake.

Peace and Love--