In Which We Go Rogue on Baked Alaska

28 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment

by meghanandco in Daring Baker Challenges

There has been some internal debate as to whether it should be “go rogue on” or “go rogue with” Baked Alaska. I’m going to go with “on”, but that’s a personal preference.

In any event. It’s the end of August, which means it’s time for my Daring Bakers Challenge!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I was, in a word, excited to try this month’s challenge. I’ve always loved ice cream desserts, and the idea of using my blowtorch practically sent me into a whirl of happiness. I’ve dubbed this month’s challenge, “Fun with Blowtorches,” and have been eagerly anticipating it. My BFF, the inimitable Rachel of The Seaside Eatery is a Daring Cook, and one major difference I’ve noticed is that my Daring Baker challenges tend to have longer periods of inactive time. All of my desserts have required long intervals of “rest” time, and are best completed over several days. With such a busy life, it’s definitely a challenge in and of itself to carve out multiple evenings in a week to work on my challenges.

But not only did I carve out time to make my Baked Alaska, I even coordinated social schedules so Rachel and Jim could come over and enjoy the dessert with Joe and me! (As a bonus, I got a sous-chef and 2 photographers out of the deal. Not to mention a very cute Worried Kraken.)

So, a quick Baked Alaska tutorial. When I first undertook this Challenge, even I wasn’t entirely clear on exactly what Baked Alaska is. In essence, it’s pound cake, layered with ice cream, covered in meringue, and blowtorched. The meringue covers and protects the ice cream, so it retains its chilly deliciousness. This is DEFINITELY a make-again dessert. It’s downright impressive!

In addition to its impressive appearance, it was just delicious. The brown butter pound cake was amazing. I saved the scraps! Joe and I definitely snacked on them later, haha! I conquered my slight problem with iciness in my vanilla ice cream, and that was so lovely and creamy. Sunita’s recipe from the last challenge is definitely my go-to recipe now! Words can’t truly describe how delicious this was. My BFF’s husband was full, and he literally made himself ill by forcing himself to finish it, it was so good.

I would not try to attempt this dessert without an extra set of hands, at least at this point. With ice cream, meringue, and my naturally hot hands, time was not on my side (If I had properly read the instructions though this would not have been a problem. I forgot to freeze the piped Alaskas. But oh well.). If I hadn’t had Rachel’s capable assistance, I would have been very stressed. The ultimate product was totally worth it though! Here’s some pictures!