Red, White & Blue Baked Alaska

 

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, months, years?  This year is turning into one set back after another!  As you know my mother passed away in January, very suddenly. 

 That was really hard on all of us.  Just the worst.  We all know we are going to lose our loved ones one day, but somehow, when it happens, we are never prepared for it.

  

Then my oven broke, not once, but twice  . . .  and I was without a working oven for about 2 1/2 months altogether.  After that somehow, its still a mystery to me, my stick blender disappeared. Not the whole thing, just the motor for it.  

And now today my electric mixer has blown up.  Right in the middle of making these  lovely desserts.  I apologise in advance for the crummy photos.  They are not as pretty as they might have been had I not had to beat up the egg whites by hand.

 

I had no sooner got everything ready to go, went to plug in my electric mixer and there was a loud bang.  Let me tell you I just about hit the ceiling! 

 Shocking to say the least! I near jumped out of my skin!  Its a wonder I didn't drop something.

 

And in the meantime ice cream was starting to melt  . . .  I quickly threw them back into the freezer and then began beating furiously with my hand whisk. 

 

It takes forever to whisk egg white stiff with a hand whisk.  I don't know how our grandmothers did it.  They must have been made from much sturdier stuff and had stronger arms.

 

We are so very spoilt!  We truly are!  Anyways I finally got it all stiffed up and went to spread it on my frozen cakes. 

It was deflating as fast as I was spreading it.  Blah . . .  there is no comparison to electric whisked whites  . . .  but I did my best!

 

The end result was no less tasty, but not quite as pretty as I had envisioned. 

I wanted to share them anyways, because this is a really solid recipe and with all your stars aligned will absolutely turn out beautifully!  Its easy and quick and very delicious!

 

You can make as many or as few as you like!  I made two, but you could make ten or even twenty if so inclined. Simple.

  

They work best if you cut the cake, cover it with the jam and ice cream and berries and freeze the night before. That way they are really cold when you go to spread the meringue over top and pop them into the oven. 

 If they are really cold when you go to bake them the ice cream won't melt in the oven.  It will still taste good if the ice cream does melt a bit, but trust me when I say they won't be as pretty!

Yield: variable

Author: Marie Rayner

Red, White & Blue Baked Alaska

You can make as many or as few of these as you like.  I will give the quantities for two, but you can multiply them to make more. Quick, easy and delicious. You can cut out and top the cakes before hand, keeping them in the freezer until you need them, covering with meringue at the last minute prior to baking.

ingredients:

• 2 slices of pound type of cake (Madeira cake) 1/2 inch thick
• 2 tsp good quality strawberry preserves
• 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, or strawberry/raspberry ripple
• sliced strawberries
• Mixed berries to serve

For the Meringue:

• 3 large free range egg whites
• 2 1/2 TBS caster sugar

instructions:

How to cook Red, White & Blue Baked Alaska

1. These preparations can be made the night before and then put into the freezer.  Take your slices of cake and using a 2 1/2 inch round cutter, cut out two round circles from the cake.  Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lay the cake slices, well apart on the lined baking sheet. Spread each with a teaspoon of strawberry preserves.  Top with a scoop of ice cream and surround each scoop of ice cream with slices of strawberry around the bottom edge.  Put in the freezer to get really cold. (You can do this the night before.)
2. When you are ready to bake your desserts, preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. 
3. Break your egg whites into a clean glass bowl.  Whip with an electric whisk until they start to get foamy.  Continue to beat, adding the sugar slowly until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.
4. Remove your cakes from the freezer and working quickly with a small flat flexible spatula cover the cakes  with the meringue, swirling it decoratively, and covering the top and sides completely. 
5. Pop the oven tray into the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until light golden brown.  Carefully remove from the baking tray with a large metal  spatula and pop onto serving dishes.  Serve immediately with an assortment of fresh berries on the side.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I have no idea how long I will have to wait until I can get a new mixer.  It will probably be months, but in the meantime I reckon I am going to develop some seriously arm muscles.  Every cloud has a silver lining!