VINTAGE RECIPES FOR BAKED ALASKA AND BAKED ICE CREAM

One of the earliest baked Alaska recipes to be featured in a celebrated cookbook is this one taken from “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” by Fannie Farmer, published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, in 1896. 

2-quart brick of ice cream, thin sheet sponge cake. Make meringue of eggs and sugar as in Meringue [below], cover a board with white paper, lay on sponge cake, turn ice cream on cake (which should extend 1/2 inch beyond cream), cover with meringue, and spread smoothly. 

Place on oven grate [rack] and brown quickly in hot oven. The board, paper, cake, and meringue are poor conductors of heat, and prevent the cream from melting. Slip the paper on ice cream platter. 

Meringue: Whites 6 eggs, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or 3/4 tablespoon vanilla. Beat whites until stiff, add sugar gradually and continue beating, then add flavoring. 

BAKED ICE CREAM 

This vintage baked ice cream recipe is taken from the book “Dainty Desserts for Dainty People” published by Charles B. Knox Co., in 1915. 

Whites of six eggs, 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, 2 quarts vanilla Philadelphia brick ice cream, thin sheet sponge cake, 1/4 teaspoonful vanilla. Meringue: beat whites of eggs until stiff and add sugar gradually while beating constantly, then add vanilla. 

Cover a board with letter paper, lay on sponge cake, turn ice cream on cake, having cake extend one-fourth inch beyond cream. Cover with meringue and spread smoothly. Place on grate and brown meringue quickly in hot oven; slip from paper to serving dish. 

BAKED ALASKA WITH MARSHMALLOWS 

This vintage nontraditional baked Alaska recipe dates back to 1929. 

Place a slice of brick ice cream on an oven-safe dessert plate. Cover top and sides of ice cream with marshmallows. They can be made to stick by trimming their sides flat and dipping them in cold water. Put plates on a board (both non-conductors of heat) and toast in the oven. 

TIPS ON MAKING BAKED ALASKA 

Use any flavor of homemade ice cream in baked Alaska recipes; however, vanilla is the traditional flavor that is often used. 

Instead of a board, a baking sheet or a double or triple layer of cardboard covered with aluminum foil may be used on the bottom. 

After assembling the ice cream and cake, freeze it rock hard before covering it with meringue. 

The meringue should thickly coat the ice cream. If you wish to follow tradition, reserve some meringue to pipe a decoration on the top. (The thick meringue coating and the board beneath the cake serve to insulate the frozen ice cream from the heat of the oven.) 

Set your oven very hot for baked Alaska recipes, to at least 450 degrees, to brown the meringue quickly.