Ultimate Bombe Alaska Recipe (and Video)
A seemingly magical dessert that is really a tasty scientific experiment! A Baked Alaska ice cream cake that is then set on fire with rum or another liquor. In this guide, we’ll show you how we make our Bombe Alaska recipe from start to finish.
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer or hand mixer Ours? Kitchenaid Pro 600: https://amzn.to/3gVNnBQ (affiliate link)
- 1 large bowl about 9" diameter at the top
- 1 pastry bag optional, for decorating the Bombe Alaska
- 1 baking tray
- 1 candy thermometer for checking the temperature of the Swiss Meringue
- 1 double boiler (homemade) pot + bowl for making the Swiss Meringue
- 1 pair of high heat gloves optional, for fire safety
- 1 kitchen blow torch optional: to add toasted accents to the Swiss Meringue and loosen bowl from frozen ice cream
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 baked cake (your choice!) 8-9 inches (22 cm) round
- 4 lbs ice cream or gelato 2-3 flavors for multiple layers
- rum or another similar liquor—for setting the Bombe Alaska on fire!
- Swiss Meringue SEE BELOW
Swiss Meringue
- 12 egg whites
- 2 ¼ cups white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ vanilla bean
- ¾ tsp cream of tartar
Instructions
Bake (or Buy) the Cake
- Bake (or buy) a 8-9" (22 cm) round cake of your choice! We chose to bake a half portion of our Dark Chocolate Chiffon Cake recipe: https://youtu.be/iVyxNxQGGWEThe baked cake should be at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) high. Cool it before using it in this recipe.1 baked cake (your choice!)
Make the Ice Cream Cake
- Choose a mixing bowl with a mouth just a bit smaller than size of your baked cake. Cover the entire inside of the bowl with plastic wrap. It’s critical that you cover the entire inside of your bowl with plastic wrap and let it hang over the sides. Otherwise, we have no chance of getting our ice cream mold out of the bowl!4 lbs ice cream or gelato
- Add the first layer of softened ice cream or gelato. If you have 2 flavors, you'll be adding two layers. If you have 3 flavors, make 3 layers. For the best definition between layers, freeze the ice cream for about 2 hours between each layer before adding the next layer.
- Top the final layer of ice cream or gelato with the cooled, baked cake. When we turn the frozen cake upside down, this cake will form the base of our ice cream cake!
- We recommend loosely wrapping the cake against the ice cream with plastic wrap to keep everything together. Freeze the ice cream cake for at least 3 hours or even overnight.
Make the Swiss Meringue
- Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs. We only need the whites for this recipe.12 egg whites
- Add the whites and granulated sugar to a bowl sitting over a pot of gently simmering water. This is called a double boiler and it allows us to use indirect heat to gently heat our sugar and egg whites.2 ¼ cups white granulated sugar
- Combine the granulated sugar with the egg whites. Warm the mixture over a gently simmering double boiler to dissolve the granulated sugar into egg whites. Whisk frequently.
- At first the eggs and sugar will be dense and hard to whisk. Then, the sugar will dissolve and the mixture will be thin and easy to whisk. Finally, the eggs will begin to froth. At this point we need to watch our temperature very closely, whisking continuously.
- When you reach 160° F (71° C), continue cooking and whisking the eggs for 15 seconds. This will ensure we kill bacteria that can cause foodborne illness.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the warm egg whites on high speed for about 5 minutes. Halfway through the mixing, add cream of tartar for extra stability and a half a vanilla bean for extra flavor.1 tsp vanilla extract, ¾ tsp cream of tartar
- Whip until you have firm to stiff peaks (5 minutes is just an estimate).
Cover the Ice Cream Cake with Swiss Meringue
- Assemble the Bombe Alaska on a heat-safe baking tray. To do this:Turn the frozen cake upside down on a heat-safe baking tray. Remove the bowl. It’s likely that the bowl will not immediately come off. If this happens, take a kitchen blow torch to the sides until it loosens. Or, set the bowl in some warm water until the bowl can be removed.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the frozen cake.
- Quickly cover the entire cake with the Swiss Meringue. Use a frosting spatula or similar to cover the entire cake with meringue that is about 1” (2.5 cm) thick.
- If you want to pipe on a decoration for your Bombe Alaska, transfer some of the Swiss Meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip. In this case, you can spread the initial layer of Swiss Meringue on a bit thinner and pipe on some decoration to thicken the layer of Meringue. The important thing is that the cake is covered with about 1" of insulation (meringue).
Bake the Bombe Alaska
- Bake at 465° F (240° C) for 5 minutes. At this point, the top of the cake will look toasted on the outside and you can add some color to the bottom with the blow torch.
Flambé the Bombe Alaska!
- Spray (or sprinkle) a small amount of rum on the outside of the cake. Add a small amount of liquor to a heat safe glass Pyrex measuring cup as well. Finally—using a long utility lighter—you can set the rum in the pyrex on fire and poured that rum on fire over our Baked Alaska!rum
- All this heat will probably not be enough to warm the ice cream cake enough to cut. Let it set out to warm until you can cut it with a knife. Pretty cool, huh?