Like most college students, I have a healthy passion for lighting things on fire.
A few years ago my friend showed me fire soccer, the incredible sport you play by dousing a tennis ball in rubbing alcohol, lighting it and then kicking the ball around for a while. I've never been a huge soccer player, but this was one game I was always ready to play.
Fireworks are great too, but they require a bit more advanced planning since unlike rubbing alcohol and a tennis ball, you cannot run into a Walgreens any time of the year and buy them. Plus, they take a lot of open space and draw lots of unwanted attention.
This week, I decided to try another one of my favorite ways to light things on fire that remains completely contained in the kitchen. The only thing better than cake and ice cream, is cake and ice cream that is covered in meringue and lit on fire. That's right, it's time to get going with some Baked Alaska.
I've tried making it once before, but I did it in such a hurry that I did not make the cake from scratch and used store bought ice cream. It was not very good. This time I started the day before and planned it much more thoroughly.
There are 4 main components to a Baked Alaska:
Cake
Ice Cream
Meringue
Flame
First I dealt with the Ice Cream
I refused to let my lack of ice cream maker prevent me from making my own ice cream. It is totally possible and actually quite simple so long as you are not trying to get too fancy. I chose to make a vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate peanut butter chip cookie dough inside.
So I made up a half batch of cookie dough without the eggs and rolled bite sized pieces. I shoved them in the freezer for a while so they could stiffen up while I made the ice cream.
While they chilled, I got out my crappy handheld mixer and made the ice cream. I decided to make 8 small baked alaskas, so I got out my ramekins and some regular kitchen mugs and lined them with saran wrap. I divided the ice cream between the cups and let it freeze for an hour. I wanted to let the ice cream solidify a bit before adding the cookie dough so that the pieces wouldn't all sink to the bottom. I put the mugs and ramekins in the very back of my fridge and that was it. Now to make the cake...
Since the ice cream usually melts a bit into the cake, I wanted a denser chocolate cake to go with the ice cream and to prevent the rum soaking into it too much when we lit it on fire. I found a great recipe for a dark chocolate mud cake that seemed perfect, especially since I still had so much dark belgian chocolate to use!
It made just enough to fit into a 10 x 13in rectangular pan, which was all I needed for my mini baked alaskas.
Conquering the Meringue
I have a slight aversion to meringues because they're so particular that it is almost not worth it. But you can't light the cake on fire unless its coated in a meringue, so I worked through my apprehension and whipped up an absurd amount of egg whites. It could've gone better, but I managed to coat every cake with the nice white fluff, even if the last few got a little droopy.
Assembly
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Let the Flames Begin!
Okay, so most recipes require a kitchen blow torch to toast the meringue and "bake" the alaska. However, as you may have guessed, I do not have a blow torch lying around for these purposes. But, as we learned above with fire soccer, alcohol can help with a very low temperature flame that's easy to produce. I don't have a bottle of propane for a torch, but I did manage to get my hands on a bottle of Bacardi 151, which might as well be the same thing. I wanted to pour a ladle of flaming rum onto the cakes, but they were small for that much rum and I didn't actually have a metal ladle that would work. I tried using my Max Brenner Hug Mug, but that became problematic when the cup was englufed in flames. After a few trials, we found the most effective method was to spoon a few tablespoons of 151 onto the meringue and light it with a zippo. Then, just let the flames do their job and toast the sides of the meringue.
It didn't work as well as a blow torch, but it certainly made a great spectacle. Plus, since its an alcohol based fire there was no smoke and it was not super hot, so there were no problems with lighting it or setting off the smoke detector.
Once you light it, just let the flames extinguish themselves on the meringue and make sure there are no little unburned portions of 151 on the cake. It's quite a strong flavor to add to the cake if it doesn't burn off.
Overall I was very satisfied with both the amount of flames we got and am very thankful that all the little bits of flame that dropped onto the floor were so easy to blow out. . .
I'd recommend trying this, but just make sure you take the time you need to make it happen, and stay safe - keep flammable materials far, far away.
Recipes:
Vanilla Ice Cream (without Ice Cream Maker)
2 C. Heavy Cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 T. vanilla extract
add-ins
- Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form
- Gently stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Pour into container, freeze overnight.
- If adding cookie dough (recipe follows) or other add ins, let the ice cream harden in the freezer for about an hour and then stir them in.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie dough pieces
1 C. flour
1/3 C. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 C. peanut butter chips
- Cream together butter and sugar, add vanilla extract.
- Stir in flour, baking soda and cocoa powder, blend well. Add peanut butter chips and stir until evenly distributed.
- Roll into dime-sized spheres and freeze for 30-40 minutes before adding to ice cream.
Chocolate Mud Cake from Almost Bourdain
375 g (13 1/2 oz) butter, softened
1 1/3 cups (230 g / 7 7/8 oz) brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups (300g / 10 1/2 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup (80 g / 3 oz) cocoa powder, double sifted
200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate, melted
3/4 cup (180 ml / 6 fl oz) milk
- Preheat the oven to 160C (320F).
- Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture is light and creamy.
- Gradually add the eggs and beat well.
- Fold through the flour, baking powder, cocoa and melted chocolate and stir in the milk.
- Spoon the mixture into a 22cm (8 1/2 in) round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 1 1/4 hours or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
- Cool in the tin.
- Cut into desired shape to fit ice cream molds
Meringue
I don't feel qualified to actually provide information on meringues since I'm not proficient with them yet. So if you don't know how to do it already....Flames
Bacardi 151 Rum
lighter
- Spoon 2-3 T. of the rum onto the meringue, light on fire and let it burn
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