Today is National Baked Alaska Day. I’ve already shared my go-to Baked Alaska recipe, so I needed something a little different. Something special to share with you today. And so it was that last week I went in search of recipes for Baked Alaska to sample. That’s when I saw this recipe from Taste of Home and knew we had to give it a try.
You know me, I took some liberties and made a few minor changes. The original recipe was all from scratch, or as close to scratch as you can get with a recipe calling for ice cream. I decided to adapt their concept of Spumoni with my own need for shortcuts. The brownie base is from a box with hazelnuts added to the batter. Quality matters, so make sure you use a good boxed mix such as Ghirardelli. Their recipe used all vanilla ice cream as a base, and created their own Pistachio and Cherry mix by adding chopped nuts, maraschino cherries and extracts to enhance the flavor. Since I was already in a short-cut frame of mind, why not keep going with actual quarts of Pistachio and Cherry Ice Cream? Their use of rum in the cherry ice cream got me to thinking about Amaretto for the Pistachio Ice Cream. Wow, it was good. If you wanted to make this dessert without alcohol, simply skip the booze. It’s only a tablespoon each, so it’s not going to change the dessert completely. It’s just a personal thing. You could always substitute Almond Extract for the Amaretto and Rum flavoring for the real thing.
Spumoni Inspired Baked Alaska
Hazelnut Brownie Base
1 Box Ghirardelli Chocolate Brownie Mix
1/4 cup Water
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1 Egg
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
Pistachio Ice Cream Center
1 Quart Pistachio Ice Cream, softened
1 tablespoon Amaretto
Cherry Ice Cream Center
1 Quart Cherry Ice Cream, softened
1 tablespoon Rum
6 to 8 drops Red Food Coloring
Meringue Shell
8 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
To Make the Brownie Base:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch round baking pan. Set aside.
Place water, oil and egg in medium bowl and stir until fully mixed. Add brownie mix and stir until well blended.
Chop the hazelnuts, gently fold into the brownie batter.
Spread into a greased 8-in. round baking pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs (do not over bake). Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Spumoni Ice Cream:
Meanwhile, line an 8-in. round bowl (1-1/2 qt.) with foil. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, place 1 quart of Pistachio ice cream and the Amaretto. Quickly spread ice cream over bottom and up sides of foil-lined bowl, leaving the center hollow; cover and freeze for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the Cherry ice cream with the rum. Add food coloring to give it a beautiful Cherry color. Pack the Cherry Ice Cream into the center of the bowl with the Pistachio Ice Cream. Smooth evenly. Wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
To Make the Meringue:
In a large heavy saucepan, combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. With a hand mixer, beat on low-speed 1 minute. Continue beating over low heat until egg mixture reaches 160 degrees, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; beat until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.
To Create the Baked Alaska:
Place brownie on an ungreased foil-lined baking sheet; top with inverted ice cream mold. Remove foil. Immediately spread meringue over ice cream, sealing to edges of brownie. Freeze until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 2-5 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. Transfer to a serving plate; serve immediately.
Note: To make transferring easier, you can use an up-side-down baking sheet lined with foil. Then it’s just a matter of gently sliding your Baked Alaska onto a pretty serving plate.
Inspired By: Taste of Home Spumoni Baked Alaska
Welcome to Rosemarie's Kitchen 
Looks heavenly!!
LikeLike
Fun to make.
LikeLiked by 1 person