Comments on: 4th of July Baked Alaska https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/ eat dessert first Tue, 12 May 2026 16:11:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: dessert fan https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/#comment-1259054 Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:49:10 +0000 https://zoebakes.com/?p=11402#comment-1259054 5 stars
I prepared this for a birthday party, and it was absolutely fantastic! Outstanding, a showstopper, stunning, delicious! And gluten free.
Tips and notes from having tried this twice:
1. First time, even though the recipe says it’s a good idea to cook the fresh blueberries, I ignored that step. I macerated fresh blueberries. This made a very bad ice cream. Second time, I cooked fresh blueberries, and people said it was the best ice cream ever. I also did one ice cream base with macerated fresh strawberries and one with cooked fresh strawberries and thought they were both good. I didn’t try frozen berries.
2. The link for the Swiss meringue goes to Mile High Lime Tart. This has two cups of egg whites. Both times I made this Baked Alaska, I halved the lime tart meringue recipe: I used 1 cup egg whites, 2 cups sugar, etc. (7 egg whites for me). More than enough. If I make this again, I will use 3/4 cup egg whites and 1 1/2 cups of sugar etc. Also, one cup of egg whites is the maximum for my mixer. This recipe, whatever the scale, makes the best meringue!
3. First time, I tried to apply the meringue with the decorating tip directly on the ice cream and this left gaps. My mistake. Second time, I frosted the ice cream with a smooth coating of meringue, and then I added the piped decorations on top of this layer.
4. The first time, I went with the Sour Cream Ice Cream base from the strawberry ice cream link using that recipe’s sour cream, vodka, and lemon. This was fine, but not my favorite. Second time, I used my preferred usual base.
5. Both times, I made my own vanilla for the white layer, no coconut.
6. First time, I used the kitchen blowtorch. This looked and tasted great. Second time, I used kirschwasser flavored brandy. The kirsch made an incredibly dramatic birthday-candle-like spectacle! (Or an edible 4th of July sparkler!) However, I thought the taste of kirsch interfered with the taste of the ice cream. Would it be better to use imported actual kirschwasser? Since one might not use kirschwasser often, could one substitute any other spirit? Would vodka add less taste? Or brandy a better taste? The sparkler effect was so dramatic!
Overall, this dessert was fantastic!

]]> By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/#comment-1040311 Sun, 27 Feb 2022 20:42:19 +0000 https://zoebakes.com/?p=11402#comment-1040311 In reply to Kate.

Hi Kate! The alcohol burns off, but there is still a bit of a taste from the kirschwasser. Zoë suggests just using a blow torch to torch the meringue and skipping the alcohol altogether for your little one. Cheers!

]]> By: Kate https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/#comment-1039370 Tue, 22 Feb 2022 01:17:45 +0000 https://zoebakes.com/?p=11402#comment-1039370 Hi Zoe, is the kirschwasser kid friendly in taste once burned off? Thinking of making this for my kid’s bday.

]]> By: Alene https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/#comment-980959 Sat, 03 Apr 2021 16:19:05 +0000 https://zoebakes.com/?p=11402#comment-980959 Great New York Times article! Congrats!

]]> By: Roo https://www.zoebakes.com/2020/07/02/4th-of-july-baked-alaska/#comment-947705 Thu, 02 Jul 2020 17:08:37 +0000 https://zoebakes.com/?p=11402#comment-947705 Looks great. I may just use Breyer’s vanilla ice cream, divided into three portions. Leave one plain, add mashed strawberries to 1/3, blueberries to the other 1/3. Soften the ice cream to add the fruit. Maybe some food coloring.

Thanks for the idea

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