BAKED ALASKA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Whip the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons sugar until creamy and yellow.
• Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and add the remaining sugar to the whites. Continue to whip the whites to stiff peaks.
• Carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the yolk/sugar combination.
• Using the same care, fold in the sifted flour.
• Line a cookie sheet with the baker=s parchment paper, pour the cake batter, and spread the batter out to evenly coat the pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
• Cool the cake quickly near an open window and on a rack.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Assemble the baked Alaska by cutting the sponge cake to the basic shape of the bombe mold. The largest piece will be used for lining the mold and a smaller piece will be used for the top which later will be inverted to become the bottom.
• Line the bombe mold with plastic wrap and then line the plastic with the larger piece of baked and cooled cake.
• Remove the ice cream and sorbet from the freezer and allow to soften for 10 minutes. Spoon or scoop the sorbet first into the cake lined mold and create an even layer on the bottom (later the top) of the mold.
• Cover the sorbet with the ice cream in the same fashion, smoothing out the ice cream as you go, into one even layer.
• Place the remaining layer of cake on top of the ice cream layer to act as a seal and place the whole bombe into the freezer for 4 to 5 hours. This can be done well in advance of finishing the baked Alaska.
• To finish the Alaska whip the egg whites to soft peaks, add the sugar and continue to whip to stiff but not dry peaks. Pour the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a star tube and unmold the bombe. Use hot towels to help loosen the bombe if necessary and invert the bombe onto a heat proof serving platter.
• Remove the plastic wrap and pipe a decorative design of meringue all around the base of the, now revealed, cake covered bombe. Cover the entire bombe with this meringue in as decorative a design as you can manage, being as creative as you like, but working quickly to avoid melting too much of the ice cream and sorbet. The baked Alaska is now ready for a quick visit to the very hot oven to brown the meringue but not melt the ice cream. Place the Alaska into the oven for just 5 minutes to brown the meringue to a light golden color.
• Serve immediately.