Baked Alaska, fire fun included

Tonight was the night, I have made the final cake. I bought wine based on the brands; Cupcake and Layered Cake, and Martinellis for the littles. After a nice dinner with family, I pulled the cake and ice-cream out of the freezer already assembled and ready for the swiss meringue and fire. A traditional Baked Alaska has a sponge cake but I made a brownie-type cake and used mint chocolate chip ice-cream because I thought my family would like the combination.

I was kind of avoiding the last cake… and I was not really sure how to end the Year of the Cake. I knew the cake would be a Baked Alaska and I thought about having a party with friends to celebrate. However, that just did not quite seem to measure up with the timing and my mood.In the end, I think that this fitting. The cake itself was delicious but not quite exactly right. I think I should have frozen the cake and ice-cream together for longer and worked to get a more billowy meringue. Now lighting dessert on fire was a treat. I enjoyed this much more than I realized. I used a propane torch (thank you Ryan) AND a shot of liquor lit on fire to double-flame the cake…which might have led to some of the meltiness.

Regardless, I finally completed a goal that took a year to do. I don’t usually keep resolutions quite so rigidly, but I did it. Maybe the secret is having a delicious goal or one that people will keep asking about so it helps to keep going.

Perhaps there will be a repeat of this cake and a party with friends. Or maybe I will find that an anticlimactic ending was the best way to conclude this season. And yet, I suspect that there is more to come with this Year of the Cake project. Yes, that’s fitting: more to come.