Flashback recipe - Baked Alaska

I think my Mom made Baked Alaska once when I was a kid and I was completely in awe of its apparent scientific miraculousness. Hot and cold, spongy and chewy at the same time - it seemed like it couldnt actually be physically possible.

My mom never made it again, probably because its a bit of a pain in the ass keeping 4 kids away from meringue and ice-cream for long enough for it to work. Its not really that much of a pain to make though and makes you feel like you are right back in the 80s (which is so terribly apt currently).

Theres quite a few bits to this but you can cheat a bit and it doesnt take too long to make at all. You have to eat it straight away once you have it made though, which if you have any sweet tooth should be no problem for you whatsoever.

Ingredients - Baked Alaska (taken from Odlums)

Sponge Base:

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2oz Caster Sugar
• 2oz self raising flour
• pinch of salt

Filling:

• Ice Cream (I used about half a Haagen Daazs tub)
• Fruit (optional - I used 2 good handfulls of rasberries)

Meringue Topping

• 2 egg whites
• 3oz caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease a sandwich tin or a bread tin as I did.

Beat the eggs, sugar, salt and leftover egg yolks until thick and creamy. Sieve and fold in the flour using a metal spoon.

Bake for about 10 minutes until well risen and brown. Cool on a wire tray.

At this stage I recommend letting your ice cream soften a bit and then spoon it into the shape that you want for your Baked Alaska (or baby alaskas like mine). Put the ice-cream back into the freezer on a plate in the shape that you want.

Make the meringue by beating your egg whites and caster sugar until thick enough that you could turn the bowl upside down without them falling out.

Once the sponge is cooled place it on an ovenproof dish and put your fruit and then ice-cream on top. Plaster your meringue all over the ice-cream making sure to cover it completely down as far as the sponge. You can be as messy as you want at this stage and still get away with calling it a masterpiece when you finish.

Place in the oven for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Eat very quickly preferably with some Abba playing in the background.