Almond cake

• 2 1/4 cup / 216 grams almond flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup / 113 grams unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1. Preheat oven to 350f/176c
2. Melt your butter over low heat. It should be just melted around room temp, not hot.
3. In a mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla bean paste. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved and stream in the melted butter. Add in the almond flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until smooth
4. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top has set and a cake tester comes out clean.
5. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling on a rack.

Custard ice cream

• 1 1/2 cups/350 ml heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups/ 350 ml milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup/ 100 grams sugar
• 1 tbsp/ 8 grams milk powder
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 cup / 150 grams fresh or frozen strawberries

1. Get your milk, cream, and milk powder in a pot and warm over medium low heat. You want to bring it to the point where bubbles form around the edges, but doesn’t reach a full boil.
2. In a mixing bowl combine your egg yolks and sugar, whisk until smooth. Slowly stream in the hot milk mixture. You want to do this slowly to avoid scrambling the eggs. So start a little splash at a time, then a steady stream.
3. Once all the milk is incorporated, add the vanilla. Place in the fridge and cool for a few hours or overnight.
4. To spin your ice cream, place the custard base in your machine with your strawberries and follow your manufacturer instructions.

Italian meringue

• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup/ 60 ml water
• 1 cup / 200 grams sugar
• 1/8th tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1. Add your water and sugar to a small pot and gently swirl until the sugar looks like a paste. Place over low heat and if there’s any sugar on the sides of the pot, use a rubber spatula to work it in and clean the sides.
2. While your sugar is warming up place your egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment and begin whisking over low speed. Speed 2
3. Once your sugar syrup hits 245f/ 118c kill the heat and bring it over to your mixer.
4. Your eggs whites should be foamy, just below a soft peak at this point. Slowly stream in the sugar syrup, it should take about a minute at to stream in. Once all the sugar is in, add the cream of tartar and vanilla. Continue whisking until it has cooled all the way and you have a shiny, glossy, meringue with stiff peaks. This should take 8-10 minutes.

Strawberry sauce

• 1 lb / 453 grams fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup/ 100 grams sugar
• 2 tbsp /30 ml lemon juice

1. Dice up your strawberries and add to a pot with the sugar and lemon juice then mix well.
2. Place on the stove over medium low heat and bring to a simmer. The strawberries are going to release a lot of moisture. So don’t worry if it’s dry in the beginning.
3. Simmer for no more than 10 minutes, the strawberries should be softened and all sugar should be dissolved.
4. Blend and pass through a fine mesh sieve if you want a super smooth consistency.

Assembling baked Alaska

1. So this recipe provides enough to make one very large one, the size of a cake, or two smaller individual ones. So It’s your call
2. What I did was grab a mixing bowl and punch out the almond cake to size, set it aside. With the same mixing bowl, line the inside with plastic wrap and fill 3/4 of the way with ice cream, leave enough room to place your cake back in. It doesn’t need to be flush but you want the ice cream and the cake to be fully touching. Place in the freezer overnight
3. Make your meringue, remove the cake from the freezer and remove it from the bowl. You might need to let it sit for 5 minutes or so at room temperature before it releases.
4. Cover the top with meringue and design it any way you wish. You can pipe the meringue on, or just spread with a spatula.
5. Hit it with the blowtorch until golden all over and pour over strawberry sauce