Baked Alaska | Meringue-Covered Ice Cream Cake

Line a round-bottomed 1.5-liter bowl with plastic wrap, letting the edges hang over the sides. Once the vanilla ice cream is soft enough to hold an indent when pressed with a spoon, spread it 2 cm thick against the inside of the bowl. Fill the center with chocolate ice cream and smooth the surface. Trim the sponge cake to a finger-width wider than the rim of the bowl, press it onto the ice cream, cover with the overhanging plastic wrap, and freeze.

Start preheating the oven to 220°C / 430°F. Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then stop stirring and bring to a boil over medium heat. When a candy thermometer reads 110°C / 230°F, start beating the egg whites with the lemon juice in a mixer. Remove the syrup from the heat when it reaches 118–121°C / 245–250°F.

When the whites form soft peaks, keep the mixer running at high speed and pour the syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Do not let the syrup touch the beaters, or it will splatter and harden on the sides of the bowl. Continue beating until the bowl is cool enough to hold by hand and the meringue is glossy with stiff peaks. Because it is made with pasteurized egg whites warmed by boiling syrup, this meringue contains no raw egg.

Take the dome out of the freezer, unwrap the top, turn the bowl upside down onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and peel away the plastic wrap; the sponge cake should be on the bottom. Use a spatula to cover the entire surface, including the edge of the sponge cake where it meets the sheet, with a layer of meringue at least 2 cm thick. Press and lift the back of a spoon to make pointed peaks on the surface; the peaks are the first parts to brown in the oven.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 3–4 minutes, until the meringue peaks turn deep golden. Watch through the oven door; do not open it. This recipe uses the oven at the high end of its range, 220°C / 430°F: the goal is to brown the outside, not dry out the meringue, before heat reaches the ice cream.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate immediately. Before each cut, dip the knife in hot water and wipe it dry; a cold knife tears the meringue and crushes the ice cream. Serve the slices without delay.