Baked Alaska



Baked Alaska is a dessert food consisting of ice cream and cake topped with browned meringue.

Etymology
The most common claim about the name "Baked Alaska" is that it was coined at Delmonico's, a restaurant in New York City, New York, USA, by its chef de cuisine Charles Ranhofer in 1867 to honor the acquisition by the United States of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 10 that year. However, no contemporary account exists of this fact, and the name would not be used until some years after the Alaska Purchase. Ranhofer himself called the dish an "Alaska, Florida" in 1894, apparently referring to the contrast between its cold and hot elements. The dish is also known as an "omelette à la norvégienne" or "Norwegian omelette", which similarly refers to the cold climate of Norway.

Other names for the dish are glace au four and omelette surprise. A similar dessert in Hong Kong is known as flame on the iceberg.

Preparation


The dish is made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for a brief time, long enough to firm and caramelize the meringue. The meringue is an effective thermal insulator, and the short cooking time prevents the heat from getting through to the ice cream and melting it.

The process for making baked Alaska was simplified in 1974 by Jacqueline Halliday Diaz, who invented a baking pan that forms a fillable hollow in the cake that may be filled with ice cream.

Variations
In 1969, the recently invented microwave oven enabled Hungarian physicist and molecular gastronomist Nicholas Kurti to produce a reverse baked Alaska (also called a "Frozen Florida")—a frozen shell of meringue filled with hot liquor.

A variation called bombe Alaska calls for some dark rum to be splashed over the baked Alaska. The whole dessert is flambéed while being served.

Flame On the Iceberg is a popular dessert in Hong Kong that is similar to baked Alaska. The dessert is an ice-cream ball in the middle of a sponge cake, with cream on the top. Whisky and syrup are poured over the top and the ball set alight before serving. Decades ago, the delicacy was served only in high-end hotels, but today it is commonly served in many Western restaurants and even in some cha chaan teng.

Cultural significance
February 1 is supposedly Baked Alaska Day in the United States.