The Science Behind Why Baked Alaska Doesn't Melt - Mashed (2024)

FAQs

The Science Behind Why Baked Alaska Doesn't Melt - Mashed? ›

In order to keep Baked Alaska frozen, the meringue shell has to form a tight seal all the way around the ice cream center with no gaps. Finally, the heat applied to the meringue is very brief: about 5 minutes in a hot oven, or a few quick blasts of a blow torch. It's an exciting and mind-bending dessert.

Baked Alaska is a baked dessert consisting of cake, ice cream, and meringue. So how does the ice cream not melt during the baking process? The meringue insulates it from the heat. The treat is baked in a hot oven for a few minutes or just long enough to firm and brown the meringue.

The meringue that we covered the ice cream with is made up of countless tiny air bubbles that we whipped up in the egg whites, which block the heat of the hot oven from getting to the cold ice cream centre. We use the same principle to help keep our houses nice and warm in the winter.

Baked Alaska is an old-school dessert that consists of a layer of cake, a frozen ice cream center, and a coating of toasted marshmallowy meringue. It's essentially a fancy version of an ice cream cake, and though it is, admittedly, fussier to make than your average dessert, it's totally worth it for that wow-factor.

But how? The answer is the meringue and the cake. Both the meringue and cake surround the icecream preventing the heat from getting to the icecream and preventing it from melting. Cake and meringue both contain lots of air pockets that act as a cushion insulating the ice-cream and preventing it from melting.

Finished baked Alaska can be stored uncovered in the freezer for up to 1 week. However, for the best meringue texture, it's best to make the meringue the day that you intend to serve it. Wrap leftover slices of baked Alaska in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil, then freeze for up to 1 month.

Alaska has an estimated 100,000 glaciers, ranging from tiny cirque glaciers to huge valley glaciers. There are more active glaciers and ice fields in Alaska than in the rest of the inhabited world. The largest glacier is the Malaspina at 850 square miles.

The name "baked Alaska" was supposedly coined in 1876 at Delmonico's, a restaurant in New York City, to honor the acquisition by the United States of Alaska from the Russian Empire in March 1867.

Vanilla ice cream and sponge cake topped with a meringue covering.

What is the difference between bombe Alaska and baked Alaska? A bombe Alaska is coated with hot, high-proof rum before serving and set alight or flambéed. A baked Alaska is browned using a torch or the broiler setting in an oven.

What do the French call baked Alaska? ›

In France, Baked Alaska is called omelette norvégienne or 'Norwegian omelette'.

Now, four years later, Baked Alaska will return exclusively to Ben & Jerry's nationwide Scoop Shops so fans can enjoy being reunited with their favourite flavour scooped in a crunchy waffle cone or swirly sundae!

The ice cream in the baked Alaska stays frozen, even when placed in a hot oven, by taking advantage of the insulating properties of the trapped air in the cellular structure of the foam components (the meringue and sponge cake). The ice cream is surrounded by meringue and sponge cake, which conduct heat very poorly.

Savannah says that Drumstick cones, as well as other “frozen desserts of that variety,” contain “a little bit more of an ingredient that is known as an emulsifier,” than traditional ice creams. Emulsifiers are chemical additives that “encourage the suspension of one liquid in another,” per Encyclopedia Britannica.

The key to this expectation-defying extenda-frozen dairy treat is a protein, called BslA, that makes the air, fat and water contained in ice cream clump together, causing it to resist melting and stay firm, even when it's sitting out in warm weather, and preventing the formation of ice crystals, so that it mimics the ...

So if it's sunny all day long in the summer, why doesn't it get very hot? (The summer mean high temperature in Barrow, Alaska is only 45°F!) There are a number of reasons why the Arctic remains cold, even in summer. The primary reason is that the sun is low on the horizon all day.

The ice cream in the baked Alaska stays frozen, even when placed in a hot oven, by taking advantage of the insulating properties of the trapped air in the cellular structure of the foam components (the meringue and sponge cake). The ice cream is surrounded by meringue and sponge cake, which conduct heat very poorly.

They're not as difficult to make when all of the layers are chilled, but what makes Baked Alaska seem impossible is that the whole dessert goes into the oven — and yet, when sliced, reveals a still-frozen interior of ice cream.

Summer daytime temperatures range from 55° - 70° F, but you'll feel warmer due to long hours of direct sunlight. Still, know what to wear in Alaska and dress in layers. Also know that the weather gets rainier as summer progresses.