Fail
This afternoon, I did a little test run for my Baked Alaska endeavor, using a piece of bread, a scoop of ice cream, and a bit of meringue. I was optimistic at first. It came together nicely and looked good in the oven for the first minute or two. But, things started going downhill rapidly after that. At first, I spied a bit of ice cream breaching the perimeter of meringue.Then, the floodgates opened and ice cream began leaking all around. It’s in the freezer right now, awaiting a culinary autopsy.
So, not such a reassuring test run, but I’ve got some ideas. I remain optimistic.
The Gourmand Mom 
Maybe if you freeze the cake too? I used to do that when I was a cake decorator at Baskin Robbins years ago. If it was an elaborate design, the ice cream would run all over the board. BUT if I froze the cake too, then it bought me some time. Just a thought!
*~*~* <== pixie dust for luck 🙂
Yes, I froze the cake (well, the piece of bread), but probably not for as long as it needs. I will definitely be preparing the ice cream and cake the day before and freezing overnight. Thanks for the pixie dust!!
Amy – my mother in law (who incidentally is a pastry chef) presses a baked cake layer into a bowl fills it with ice cream puts another thin cake layer on the bottom, freezes the whoel thing overnight, covers it in merangue and then bakes. Try that. the extra thin cake layer keep the icecream in place more I think. I have never done this, but it is my father in laws favorite dessert and she makes for him every year for his birthday and it comes out beautiful. I can ask her for more tips if you need them! Good luck!!
Amy Conner Zatlukal
Thanks for the tip, Amy! That makes a lot of sense. The other thing I’m thinking is that I may make the ice cream dome with a diameter slightly less than the cake, so that I will have a little lip of cake around the ice cream to really seal the meringue around.