How To Make Easy Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska must have been even easier to put together when you could still buy ice cream in solid blocks – or maybe you still can, I never see it like that now though – but even if you decide to bake the sponge yourself and make a fresh fruit purée instead of opening a tin, this impressive little pudding is a nice easy one for absolute beginners to make, or indeed anyone who wants something sweet after dinner in a lot less time than it takes to open the box and leave a supermarket dessert to defrost. Anyway, you can elaborate on the cheat’s version of Baked Alaska and make as many improvements as you like. This is just the recipe in its most basic form.

1. Step 1:

   Stand the sponge flan case on a cold oven tray and preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200°C).

2. Step 2:

   Take the ice cream straight from the freezer without allowing it to sit in the fridge or stand at room temperature first, and put as many scoops into the flan case as it takes to make a gently rounded dome on top of the sponge without overdoing it. (As a very rough guide I’d say the ice cream should be no more than about 3 ½ in (9 cm) high in the middle – but that’s only guessing. Just do what looks right to you.)

3. Step 3:

   Pile the tinned fruit (without the juice) around the ice cream, neatly filling in any gaps to make the pudding as smooth and compact as possible.

4. Step 4:

   Whisk the egg whites and about half the quantity of caster sugar with an electric hand whisk until the meringue stands up in peaks and you can turn the bowl upside down without the contents sliding out then fold in the remainder of the sugar.

5. Step 5:

   Smooth the meringue all over the top of the fruit and ice cream in an even layer, making sure it meets the sponge around the edge, then fluff the meringue up a bit with a fork or blunt knife – or do whatever you think makes the pudding look good. (You could use a star-shaped nozzle and a large piping bag to create a more elaborate pattern with the meringue if you can be bothered. I never can.)

6. Step 6:

   Put the pudding at the bottom of the oven on Gas Mark 6 (200°C) for about 10 minutes, until the meringue is dried out and golden in places.