Baked Alaska Recipe (mini ones!) - Dessert for Two (2024)

Baked Alaska recipe made in ramekins. Mini baked Alaskas that are individually portioned. Full of black cherry sorbet, a small slice of cake, and homemade marshmallow meringue.

I've been carrying around this little notebook for 5 ½ years. In it, I write all the desserts I want to scale down for two. I'm always consulting the list and checking things off. It's because of this little notebook that I've never experienced burn-out here in this space. There are always more sugary sweets out there to scale down to serve two. Life is pretty sweet, friends.

I reach for my trusty notebook when I eat at a restaurant with an inspiring dessert menu. I reach for it on Monday afternoons during the period of time I block off on my calendar for creative daydreaming. (Yes, I really do that. Try it!)Lately, I've been reaching for it often at the end of the day to scribble in my current cravings...which then become tomorrow's reality. I'm taking full advantage of the extra calories breast feeding is burning, to put it nicely. I eat dessert daily. Sometimes twice.

Baked Alaska Recipe

I think this Baked Alaska recipe has been on the list for close to 5 years. I'm not sure what took me so long to make it. It's a great little posh dessert--a slice of sponge cake covered with ice cream of your choice, all schmeared with meringue that gets toasted just before serving. It's like cake meets ice cream with toasted marshmallow.In the words of Queen Ina, "how bad can that be?" Answer: not bad at all; freaking fantastic, actually.

Sorbet in mini Baked Alaskas in ramekins:

When I spotted this black cherry sorbet at a specialty shop, I knew it was time to make Baked Alaskas for two. You can use any flavor or sorbet that you think is fancy. Though I didn't make the sorbet myself, I did stuff another one of those dang cherries that I just can't get rid of in the center. (Like two cherries are really making a dent in the jar, though). Here's a link for the dark Morello cherries I use the most.

You can make this recipe serve way more than 2by using the sponge cake recipe from my Shortcut Tres Leches Cakes. Or, you can half that recipe exactly and make it in a loaf pan. Just a note: half a tablespoon is 1.5 teaspoons. Be precise! In both cases, add a splash of almondextract. Frozen sponge cake leaves a lot to be desired in the flavor department, but extractsaves the day. Vanilla would be fantastic here, or lemon extract would work, too.

Make Ahead Baked Alaska Recipe plan:

Ok, so prep. Let's chat. I made the sponge cake the day before. While it was cooling, I scooped perfect spheres of sorbet using an ice cream scoop. The trick to getting perfect orbs is leveling it off in the scoop. Just scrape it against the side of the pint. Then, use a wet thumb to make a hole to stuff the cherry inside. (That is officially the weirdest sentence I've ever typed on this blog. Oh wait. I talked all about pukingon my boyfriendonce). The stuffed cherry part is optional, ok? You can stack the sorbet scoop on top of the cake and freeze it overnight. Or, put the sorbet scoops on cupcake liners and freeze, like I did.

The egg white meringue part is the only thing that has to happen just before serving.So, when it's go-time, whip the egg whites with sugar. You can use a piping bag or just schmear them on the sorbet-cake bombes with a spoon--imperfection is the goal so we get ridges for toasting. If you opt for a spoon, drag the edges of a fork to make even more ridges before brulee-ing. You can do it!

This baked Alaska recipe is easily double or tripled to feed a crowd, but I highly suggest making it small when you're learning. One of the big reasons I love baking for two is that it's a chance to practice on a small amount of ingredients. If you've never made a type of dessert before, it might fail, and that's a lot of wasted ingredients when you're using regular-sized recipes. So, start here and make two mini baked Alaskas. Once you've mastered two, you're ready to scale up and feed a crowd. Don't forget to make the cake and pre-scoop the sorbet the day before, just to make it easy on yourself on serving day.