Recipes

When you feel relief, when you want to celebrate a getting-well—even if you're not all well yet—you need a celebration recipe, and there's nothing more celebratory than a traditional baked Alaska with all its peaks and snowy sweetness. There's not much snow in Savannah and I ain't never been to Alaska, but the South sure knows about that state's most famous dessert. My personal baked Alaska gets to be called Baked Savannah-Alaska because I garnish my serving plate with edible southern magnolia or hibiscus petals. If you can't find those, try crystallized violet or rose petals.

For starters, we're going to take a yummy piece of cake—any kind of cake, actually. It can be a chunk of your Mississippi Mud Cake—before you add the marshmallows and the icing. It can be a piece of your own sour cream pound cake, your carrot cake—whatever kind of cake you want, even store-bought cake. You could even use a blueberry muffin. Place the cake in an ovenproof dish.

Next we're going to make the meringue. You need 3 egg whites at room temperature, ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, and ¼ cup sugar. We're going to beat those egg whites together with the cream of tartar with a handheld electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Then we're going to gradually beat in the sugar until the meringue is really stiff.

Then we're going to ladle into the center of the cake a big old scoop of ice cream—probably vanilla, because that would go with any kind of cake. We're going to frost the whole thing, every drop, no cake or ice cream exposed, with a thick layer of meringue and press some ripples in the meringue with a spoon, a knife, or a spatula. Then put what will become the Baked Savannah-Alaska in a 425°F preheated oven and just brown it quickly so that the ice cream won't melt. You need to watch the baking process closely, because you don't want your meringue to burn.

Taking the cake from the oven, I'd garnish the dish with those organic or pesticide-free southern flower petals and perhaps put a little candle or flag on the very top of the meringue for a real celebratory sensation.

Bring this fabulous dessert to the table with a spoon (or two spoons, one for you and one for whoever is celebrating your victory with you). Then, all dig in together with cries of "Delicious!" or "Congratulations!" or "Well done!"

More from Paula Deen:

Lemon Tart