WHY DOESN’T THE ICE CREAM IN A BAKED ALASKA MELT?

Baked Alaska is a dessert in which fruit and ice cream are put in a sponge flan base and topped with meringue. The whole thing is then baked in the oven at a high temperature for a few minutes. If it comes out right, the meringue is hot and the ice cream is still frozen.

The key to successful Baked Alaska is ensuring there are no gaps in the meringue. The meringue – and to a certain extent the sponge – insulates the ice cream from the heat of the oven. Meringue is a particularly good thermal insulator because whipping the egg whites fills them with lots of air, and any layer with a lot of trapped air is a poor conductor of heat. Heat from the oven would get through eventually, but the short cooking time means there just isn’t enough time for this to happen.