How To Make Baked Alaska (And Why You Should)

If you’re feeling blue, go to YouTube. Skip the free horror flicks. Skip the Betz mystery sphere. Go straight to the videos about making Baked Alaska. It’s the best feel-good activity ever. In terms of euphoria, it’s one tier down from actually making one. Simply watch, with no pressure to make something. No one’s judging. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-5_DpWvZDg&t=81s

Inspired? Time to make one yourself? That’s what I thought. When I was an obedient cherubic Asian child, Baked Alaska made me sooooo happy. At its core, Baked Alaska is about ice cream. That’s what made me giddy. What?! You’re torching ice cream. How’s that possible? The secret is the Italian meringue cloak, the thick outer coating insulating and protecting the ice cream and keeping the whole thing from meeting its demise. The meringue is the Annalise Keating of the dish.

In this video, Chef John says making Baked Alaska is not as hard as it sounds. I want to believe him, but the people saying Baked Alaska is easy are singlehandedly raising four children while running for city council and learning viola. I’m afraid my only attempt at making one just ended in my prematurely consuming the dish before it could be birthed. And that was still sheer joy.

In addition to ice cream, Baked Alaska features chocolate cake and meringue. So to recap: Ice Cream. Chocolate Cake. Merinque. There’s more goodness in this dish than a cloister of nuns. The type of meringue used is key. As mentioned, it’s Italian meringue. You can shortcut by using store-bought cake. You can shortcut by using store-bought ice cream. But you can’t shortcut the meringue. To make that, you drizzle sugar syrup over egg whites (the syrup is heated up to 240-degrees which means you use a cooking thermometer and who has a cooking thermometer and quite frankly this is where it all fell apart for me because I was too lazy to go back to the store and get one which is the same laziness that contributed to this run-on sentence). You whip it up. You form peaks and shapes with it. And most important, it holds up when the Baked Alaska is getting fired up with a torch or broiler. 

Part of the reason Baked Alaskas are special to me, besides the nostalgia, is because no one discusses them anymore. There’s nothing paleo or gluten free about them. But Mid-Century, Baked Alaska was all the rage. Then it disappeared, like skateboarding and stage magic. Now all three things have made a comeback. Exactly when the Baked Alaska re-entered is not entirely clear. Maybe six or seven years ago? I suspect it re-emerged to a targeted audience. Like political folk music, it has a following but the masses are unaware. Having said that, there’s a whole day devoted to it, National Baked Alaska Day - February 1st. February 1st is also National Get Up Day, so I imagine the devotees of February 1st are committed: they get up and make Baked Alaska.