Chocolate-Cherries Alaska Bomb

Boy, was I excited about this dessert! It's a twist on a Baked Alaska and is one of Paula Deen's recipes that I found on the Food Network. It was a hit and a nice little show, too! I highly recommend this dessert, whether you put on the show or not!!



2 pints cherry ice cream*
1-8 inch round chocolate chip walnut brownie**
4 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. brandy


*Paula Deen recommends Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream.
**I couldn't find a round premade brownie at the store and I wasn't sure if I'd have enough cocoa powder to make a brownie from scratch so I used a mix I had that had walnuts and just added chocolate chips. I baked it in a 9-inch pie plate so I would already have a circle that I just needed to cut down an inch.

1. Line a small, round-bottomed, 8-inch stainless steel bowl with plastic wrap, letting it hang over the sides (I needed two pieces). Spoon the ice cream into the prepared bowl, pressing it down as you go. Smooth the surface of the ice cream with a rubber spatula. Top the ice cream with the brownie round, bottom side of the brownie up. Bring the plastic wrap up over the brownie, wrapping it all up tightly. Freeze for 4 hours or overnight until solid.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Transfer the meringue to a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I just used my spatula to spread in on and all over the dessert, being sure to seal it at the bottom).
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
4. Remove bomb from freezer, unwrap bottom and turn out onto a metal or other heatproof serving dish (I had some trouble getting my bomb to turn out, so I had to set the bowl in a warm water bath for a few minutes and then it popped right out into a pie plate). Peel away the plastic wrap from the ice cream. Pipe stars of meringue all over the bomb (this is a decorative touch, but I just spread it over the dessert with a spatula), covering it completely and sealing it all the way down and to the edge of the dish.
5. Bake the bomb in the oven for 2-3 minutes until it begins to brown. Remove from the oven and gently pour the brandy all over the bomb. Ignite the brandy with a long kitchen match and let burn until the flame subsides (this is a flambe and the heat will burn away all the liquid but it puts on quite a show while burning with brilliant reds and blues in the flames).
6. When the flames die down, cut into wedges and serve immediately.

8 servings