Baked Alaska, True to Alaska
With help from Elissa Brown of Wild Scoops
A number of old recipes pay homage to Alaska as it existed in the early American cultural imagination. The Alaska cocktail, developed during The Gold Rush, is one. Baked Alaska, with its warm exterior and cold mountain of ice cream inside, is another. I am a firm believer, however, that as Alaskans we should make these Alaskana recipes our own.
First, a little history: according to the cooking dictionary What’s Cooking America, Charles Ranhofer, a French chef at Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York, created a dessert made with banana ice cream, a biscuit base, and toasted meringue to celebrate The Alaska Purchase in 1867. In his cookbook, The Epicurean, published in 1864, he called it an “Alaska, Florida.” A similar recipe appears as “Baked Alaska” in The Original Fannie Farmer 1896 Cookbook.
To develop a truly Alaska-style baked Alaska, I dialed up my friend Elissa Brown, owner of Wild Scoops ice cream in Anchorage, and got some advice on dealing with ice cream. Her shops serve baked Alaska cones covered in toasted marshmallow meringue that are a shoutout to the old school recipe, so she also shared a great meringue recipe that really sticks to ice cream. We spent a day in the kitchen messing around and came up with a dish that is a project but requires more time than skill. The result is a show-stopping dessert.
A few things to note: I used my favorite sourdough brownie recipe as a base, but any brownie recipe, including boxed brownie mix, will do. A simplified version of this recipe can be made in individual portions using brownie rounds cut out with a large biscuit cutter or glass, and a scoop of ice cream on top, covered in meringue and torched. I strongly advise against using sorbet. I tried this and found it doesn’t refreeze well and tends to crumble when you cut it. And it’s best not to make it too big. Some versions of baked Alaska call for toasting the meringue under a broiler but when we tested, we found that the ice cream melted too quickly. It’s absolutely worth tracking down a kitchen torch for this. In a pinch, you can also use a regular blow torch, but take care not to set the meringue on fire. You will also need a 7- or 8-inch diameter Pyrex or metal bowl that holds at least 1½ quarts, a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, and a candy thermometer. And, finally, if you aren’t a fan of chocolate, you can make this recipe using a round of sheet cake of any variety as a base.
