Baked Alaska is a delightful show-stopping dessert with a cake base layered with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream and a golden toasted meringue. This easy Baked Alaska recipe uses just a handful of ingredients and simple steps so anyone can make an impressive dessert for family and guests.
Baked Alaska Recipe
This recipe makes six individual Baked Alaskas — perfect for serving the whole family or for a dessert with real “wow” factor. It may look fancy, but with a few smart shortcuts and clear steps it’s very approachable. Using ready-made components and freezing between steps keeps the process quick and stress-free while delivering delicious results.
How to make Easy Baked Alaska
- Arrange store-bought angel food cake cups on a parchment-lined pan.
- Fill each cup with sliced strawberries.
- Top the strawberries with a scoop of vanilla ice cream using a large cookie or ice cream scoop.
- Return the assembled cups to the freezer to keep the ice cream solid while you prepare the meringue.
Meringue for Baked Alaska
Make a stable, pipeable meringue to fully encase the frozen ice cream and cake. Follow these steps for a glossy, stiff meringue:
- Place 4 egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer).
- Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to stabilize the whites.
- Beat on medium speed until foamy.
- Increase the mixer speed and add 1 cup sugar, one teaspoon at a time, continuing to beat as you add it.
- Beat until the whites are thick and form stiff peaks — this can take 5–10 minutes depending on your mixer.
- Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla for flavor and beat briefly to combine.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Quickly pipe meringue around and over each frozen ice cream-topped cake so they are fully covered.
- Return the piped cakes to the freezer for at least one hour so the meringue becomes firm.
- Brown the meringue with a food torch, moving the flame evenly across the surface until golden. If you don’t have a torch, place the cakes under a hot broiler for a minute or two—watch closely so the ice cream doesn’t melt.
- Keep the finished Baked Alaskas in the freezer until you are ready to serve.
Tips for making Baked Alaska
A few tricks make assembly and finishing much easier:
- Use store-bought angel food cake cups for consistent size and faster assembly, but homemade cake works fine if you prefer.
- Freeze the cakes after each major step. Keeping the components solid prevents melting and slipping when you pipe the meringue.
- Whip the meringue until it is truly stiff. Underwhipped meringue will be runny and hard to pipe.
- Freeze the piped meringue before torching. If you skip this, the meringue and ice cream can collapse or melt.
Baked Alaska Recipe Details
This version serves six and is easy to adapt. Use high-quality vanilla ice cream and ripe strawberries for the best flavor. Assemble, freeze, pipe, freeze again, then torch just before serving for the best presentation and texture.
Ingredients (serves 6): angel food cake cups (6), sliced strawberries (1 cup), vanilla ice cream (about 3 cups). Meringue: 4 egg whites, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla.
