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Baked Icecream (that, um, melted. Help?)
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{ 14 comments }
I’m really surprised this recipe said to bake for an hour, even at such a low temperature.
Usually when I bake a pavlova I bake in a low oven for around an hour, but there is no ice cream involved!
When we make Bombe Alaska we put the biscuit base and meringue covered ice cream in to a very hot oven for only a short period of time. Just enough to give the meringue a nice browning on top, but not so long the heat gets through to the ice cream and melts it.
I will look around for my recipes and repost.
Sorry, can’t find my bombe alaska recipe. Even called my husband to ask which book it was in but he can’t remember. If you look up recipes online, though, you will see what I was talking about above re. short time in hot oven.
I really think your recipe was wrong!
I thought the hour sounded wrong as well, but I assumed the insulation helped keep the icecream cold. And the meringue still didn’t cook! I can see it’s a good thing we have so many eggs, I’m going to have to do some serious experimenting to get a meringue that works.
I agree, I really think that the recipe was wrong. I would have thought that a hot oven for 10 minutes or so would have been a better plan.
Even ice-cream in the fridge (4C) will melt after an hour.
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When I bake meringue cookies, I only use 1 C of sugar and 3 egg whites (I’ve never brought them to room temperature first). I bake them in a 400 F oven preheated and turned off. They stay in for four hours (or you can simply ignore them and take them out in the morning). I’m guessing that that would be too long to do with ice cream, but the recipe has never failed me.
That sounds right for meringue, mine are still gooey inside so I think they need more time. Obviously the icecream is making things difficult.
I seem to have the chewy meringue happening. It’s also possible our biscuits and icecream scoops were too small so they melted too quickly. Maybe trying with giant cookies or making a base (is that how a baked Alaska works?) might help.
I agree about the timing — seems much too long, especially for single portion sizes.
You need to incorporate the sugar completely – ideally there should be no sugar crystals left in the mixture (shouldn’t feel gritty) ; or the meringue may split and ‘weep’
My ‘never fail’ meringue recipe uses icing sugar, rather than caster sugar, so it incorporates really quickly. It results in a slightly caramel coloured meringue — but that’s a bonus so far as I’m concerned.
I never worry about the freshness of the eggs, or bringing them to room temperature first.
I’ve made meringue successfully without using either cream of tartar or salt — the sugar seems to stabilize the meringue enough for piping or spooning if you’re quick enough and bake it directly.
4 large egg whites
pinch cream of tartar or salt
9 oz icing sugar, sieved
3 drops vanilla essence (I often add more)
Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff (really important, should be able to turn the bowl upside down, and the egg whites stick in place). Whisk in the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisk in the vanilla.
At this point, you have 2 options, since the meringue won’t be cooked through in the oven, you may want to cook it on the stove.
Option 1: Place bowl over simmering water (making sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bow. Whisk until meringue is very thick and stiff.
Option 2: Use ‘as is’ (this is what I do, and no one has died yet!)
I’ve always used sponge for the base of the Baked Alaska. Not saying that biscuit won’t work, but the holes in the sponge will hep with the insulation effect.
Place scoop of ice-cream on the base. I do this first, and pop them back in the freezer while I make the meringue. A good idea, especially if you’re using option 2 above, as the meringue will be warm.
Coat with meringue. Bake at 230 degrees C for 4 (four) minutes (short time in hot oven) until meringue is lightly browned.
Eat at once!
4 minutes definitely sounds much more like it, and putting them back in the freezer to make sure they’re really cold. Thanks!
When you are cooking meringues usually you aren’t actually wanting it to cook. You are wanting it to dry out. That is why you cook it for a low temp over a long period of time.
For a baked alaska I think you are more just wanting to brown the top, so hot temp and short period of time in the oven.
Hope this helps it all make a bit more sense.
So it should still be soft? That makes much more sense. Although I’d still like to know who trialled the instructions in my book!
If you’re a visual learner who loves to learn about the science behind how food works, check out Alton Brown. Here’s a YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLMgkxQgNE) to one of his shows “Let Them Eat Foam” – all about egg whites/meringue.
I swear, after watching a lot of his shows, I’ve picked up little facts here and there that have really helped my understanding of recipes and ingredients.
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That sounds horribly incredibly complicated – although I do like Ann’s recipe and of course now I want to try and make it because horribly incredibly complicated baking is a sure fire de-stresser for me 🙂
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I’d try an “italian meringue” for the topping- when I did Bombe Alaska, that’s what I used. But it’s not kid friendly really, because you’ve got to basically make a very hot sugar syrup (soft ball stage – 115C), and pour that slowly into the egg whites as they are beating. The sugar syrup (boiled until just before turning into toffee) cooks the egg whites and turns the whole mixture very stiff. You need a pretty good stand mixer to continue to beat as the mixture gets pretty hard to mix. Then you just put it on the outside of the frozen cake and ice cream and pop it under the griller or have at it with a blow torch to brown it up. Voila! The meringue is still sticky- not crumbly like a pavlova-type meringue at all.
When I saw your instructions to cook for an hour, I thought that the ice cream would probably have evaporated by then!
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