Baked Alaska - 52 Cook Books Week 1

Over the Christmas break I didn't bake half as much as I normally do.

 

We keep two chickens who, in the week up to Christmas, started laying less eggs.

 

It is normal for chickens to stop laying from October and can continue up until February. So when they started to lay less eggs I immediately thought that they were stopping so I bought more eggs so I had enough to bake with.

 

However as soon as the shop bought eggs arrived our super chickens each started laying an egg a day!

 

Typical!

 

So with our 2 fresh eggs a day and what I had bought I had an abundance of eggs.

 

I gave a lot of the shop bought ones to family, but I still had a lot of fresh eggs so I thought that the perfect book to look at for a good recipe that uses a few eggs would be

 

River Cottage Handbook No 11 - Chicken & Eggs

by Mark Diacono, introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

http://www.rivercottage.net/

 

 

My hubby bought me the complete collection of the River Cottage Handbooks for my birthday last year.

 

They really are one of my favourite collections of cookery books as they are not just about recipes. The recipes come at the end. The majority of the book is giving information about each of the topics.

For example the Chicken & Eggs book goes into details about how to keep and look after your chickens, different breeds, how to house them, their health and even how to butcher them!

 

I can guarantee that I will not be butchering my two lovely birds!

 

I really am too attached to eat them!

 

But I will enjoy their eggs!

 

I decided to go with a lovely dessert! That dessert being a Baked Alaska.

 

This is a dessert that I have never tried let alone made so it really was going to be a challenge!

 

On Saturday nights my mum and dad come to our house for a meal and I always either make a dessert or bake a cake. They also tend to be my willing Guinea pigs for my new recipes!

 

This is how I got on...

 

Baked Alaska

 

This dessert was easier than I thought it was going to be.

 

Earlier in the afternoon I made the biscuit base by putting digestive biscuits into the food processor and giving them a good blitz. Once I had biscuit crumbs I placed them in a bowl and added some cocoa powder and melted butter to bind them all together.

 

I then placed the biscuit base into a spring form cake tin and left in the fridge to chill.

 

After we had eaten our main course I set off to finish off the dessert!

 

I whisked up 5 eggs whites with caster sugar into a meringue. While they were in the food mixer being whisked I placed ice cream onto the middle of my biscuit base.

 

Once my meringue was going into lovely stiff peaks and stayed in the bowl when tipped upside down, yes I really was brave enough to try this, I spooned them onto the top of the ice cream and biscuit base.

 

Next it was time to place under a grill at high heat to brown the top of the meringue.

 

Taaa Darrr!!!

This is what I got!!!



 

 

 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the dessert once I had cut out the servings as it was not an easy dessert to serve looking pretty!

But believe me, the taste is more important than a pretty looking dessert and wow this tasted delicious!!

The base was a lovely solid base with a hint of cocoa it went perfectly with the ice cold ice cream and smooth fluffy meringue.

It got the thumbs up from all of my family and some even had seconds!

I am sure that this will be a dessert that I will be making again. But in true Kirsty style I will be adding twists and changing ingredients to make it my own!

Enjoy x