Mint Oreo Baked Alaska

I am horribly behind on posting recipes and this creation is the one to make me get back into it!  A couple of months I had a new roommate move in, Annalise.  She is from Alaska and we had talked about making a Baked Alaska together for friends.  Well we finally made it happen!

Man alive it turned out so pretty!  It was impressive sitting in my freezer even before I toasted it up a bit and got better looking!  Fortunately it was also very yummy and had almost everyone going back for seconds!

One thing I like about this dessert is that it is sooo customizable!  I learned yesterday that originally this dessert was created to celebrate the purchase of the Alaska.  It was made with pound cake and sherbert.  I'm not a huge fan of either of those, so I substituted Devil's Food cake and Mint Oreo ice cream.  You could use any flavor of cake and ice cream or sherbert to make this perfect for you and your group.

It isn't a hard dessert, but it does take some time, especially whipping up the egg whites for the meringue!  I think it took Annalise and I 30 minutes for it to go from liquid whites to a stiff meringue.  She got tired and frustrated with how long it took, but upon eating it promised to be making one every week!
So traditionally you are supposed to bake this for a couple of minutes after frosting it to get the brown edges, but I just used my cooking torch to toast the edges.  Much faster and less of a chance of me ruining it!

Don't be afraid of how fancy this sounds, or the fact that most recipes call for this cake to be baked for a couple of minutes, make this and amaze all of your family and friends with your amazing skills!

Mint Oreo Baked Alaska
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients
1 box of Devil's Food Cake, or any flavor of choice
Ingredients for the boxed cake mix
1 container of Mint Oreo ice cream, or any flavor of choice
8 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:
1. Up to a day in advance, mix cake mix according to package directions and bake in 2 9" round pans.  You will want to make sure you have freezer safe bowl that is the same diameter as the cake pan.  Soften ice cream and put in foil lined bowl, cover and freeze.
2. I put the cake in the freezer a couple of hours before assembling so the cake would be harder and could hold the dome of ice cream.  Once the cake was frozen I started assembling.  The top of the cake was too rounded so I cut some off to make it a bit more level.  Once ready I put it on my serving platter, if using a torch or baking tray, and inverted my bowl of ice cream on top.  I had some gaps around the edges but those did go away.  I put it back in the freezer while I made the meringue.
3. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. With a hand mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating over low heat for about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.
4. Spread the meringue over the ice cream and cake layers, completely sealing the entire cake, all the way to the platter.  Freeze until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.  When ready to serve, you can either use a kitchen torch to brown the peaks or bake at 400 degree's for 25 minutes.  If you bake it, transfer to a serving plate and serve immediately.

Enjoy!