Baked Alaska

 Baked Alaska

1 package vanilla cake mix

Prepare per the package instructions in a 9 X 13 X 2 baking dish. When cooled, make sure it’s level and at least 1 inch thick across. The thicker the better. Place on an oven safe serving platter and freeze.

1 half gallon vanilla ice cream

Unwrap the ice cream and lay it flat in the center on top of the cake. Place the cake and ice cream into the freezer to make sure it’s frozen really hard.

Meringue

12 egg whites

½ cup sugar or to taste

2 teaspoon vanilla

With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks. Start on low and increase slowly to high. When you start to see foam, add the sugar and vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pull the cake out of the freezer and cover everything with a thick covering of meringue. Make sure you do leave a lot of swirls and peaks. That’s where the color is. Place the cake on the lower rack of the oven and bake only until the meringue shows the golden brown. Immediately remove and place in the freezer.

NOTES:

If your meringue isn't stiff enough or you didn’t  keep an eye on it in the oven the meringue will split and slide down. Big mess in the oven.

Pull the baked Alaska out the freezer up to 30 minutes prior to serving. This will make it easier to slice.

Be creative with different flavors of cake and ice cream. You could do chocolate cake with cherry chips or mint ice cream.