Do You Miss Cruising? This Recipe Will Let You Re-Create an Iconic Cruise Experience at Home
There may be no dish that evokes cruising more than Baked Alaska.
A miracle dessert of warm, caramelized meringue on the outside, still magically full of layers of frozen ice cream on the inside. No one really knows why, but somewhere along the way, it became a classic of traditional cruise culture.
Regent Seven Seas Mariner's pastry chef showed BestTrip.TV his tips and tricks to perfect Baked Alaska… and shared his recipe here for you.
Until we can sail again to Alaska – or anywhere – this Baked Alaska recipe can help re-create the fun ceremonies of cruise ship dining.

- 250 grams French Meringue (see recipe below)
- 150 grams Raspberry Coulis (Sauce)
- 100 grams Vanilla Sauce
- 160 grams Vanilla Ice Cream (or a combination of your choice of ice creams)
- 160 grams Chocolate Ice Cream
- 160 grams Strawberry Ice Cream
- assorted berries
- mint leafs
- 62.5 grams water
- 31 grams sugar
- 6.5 grams kirsch liqueur
- 78 grams whole milk
- 23.5 grams butter
- 23.5 grams flour
- 5 fresh egg yolks
- 6 fresh egg whites
- 15.5 grams sugar
- grated zest of 1/3 of a clean orange
- 6 mL Grand Marnier liquor
- 9 fresh egg whites
- 170 grams sugar
- 1.25 grams vanilla extract
- Start whisking the egg whites by incorporating one quarter of the sugar little by little.
- Once the egg whites have doubled in volume, add another quarter of the sugar and the vanilla.
- Keep whisking until firm and shiny, then add the remaining sugar and whisk for another minute.
- Combine milk and butter and bring to a boil.
- Pour the flour into the milk, keep on stirring over the heat until it starts to become a paste.
- Put mixture into mixing bowl, at low speed add the egg yolks, grated orange skin and Grand Marnier.
- Keep beating on fast speed for 10 seconds.
- Meanwhile whip the egg whites to a meringue with sugar.
- Mix a little meringue into the batter until obtaining a homogenized paste; then gently fold the meringue into the batter.
- Line sheet pans with pan liners, spread the mix onto it and make a fine layer of ½ cm in height.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 10 minutes and until the sponge is baked properly, cool down to room temperature, then before using in Baked Alaska, sprinkle the syrup over the sponge cake.
- For each serving, use a 6 cm ramekin, lined with plastic wrap.
- Cut a round disk of the sponge to fit the inner part of the bottom. Fill with chocolate first, then vanilla then strawberry ice cream.
- Cut a round disk out of the sponge fitting the inner part of the top, press gently down and freeze immediately
- Meanwhile prepare the meringue.
- Place your serving plate over top of the frozen ramekin, turn over and remove plastic wrap. Spread the meringue all over, using piping technique or a spatula. Mimic a mountain landscape.
- Turn on your blowtorch and brown the edges of the meringue. Decorate the plate with raspberry coulis and vanilla sauce, berries and a spring of mint.
- Serve instantly.
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Some of the best food travel experiences don't involve white linen or Michelin stars. A crab feast in Alaska that starts with a boat ride to collect crab pots is one of the most fresh, pure-tasting... and fun dining experiences you'll have anywhwere in the world.
Prepare to get dripping in butter and crab juice in this fun BestTrip.TV video!
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And local fireweed and spruce tips for truly local spirits and craft cocktails.
BestTrip.TV was in port in Skagway, Alaska on our Regent Seven Seas cruise and naturally, we checked out the famous local saloon recommended by Regent's shore expert. We are always on the hunt for 'local', and there on the bar menu: cocktails made using local, small-batch gin and vodka. Intrigued, we asked the bartender, who drew us a map on a napkin (those are always the best maps) to find the distillery.
And off we went on a walk through town to find Skagway Spirits. We found them next to Skagway's local airport in a re-imagined hangar, distilling gin and vodka and hand-crafting local ingredient-based juices and cordials to mix with them in their fun tasting room.
The last time we turned down a crafted cocktail using local ingredients and local, hand-crafted spirits made from the first water off the local glacier was... never! Our little adventure to find the entrepreneurial Heger family and their wonderful airport hangar distillery was one of our best memories of our trip to Alaska.
The best news? You don't need a happy accident to discover Skagway Spirits on your next trip to Alaska. Now you know exactly where to find Gary, Jan and Luke Heger and their delicious spirits and cocktails.
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- Whales
- Salmon
- Crab
- Bald eagles
- Puffins
- Brown (grizzly) bears
- Sitka deer
- Sea otters
- Sea lions
Before there was molecular gastronomy, there was Baked Alaska to awe and delight a table of diners.
A miracle dessert of warm, caramelized meringue on the outside, still magically full of layers of frozen ice cream on the inside. A feat of culinary ingenuity in the days of unreliable refrigeration.
The story goes that Baked Alaska was created in New York's famous Delmonico's restaurant in 1867 in celebration of the American acquisition of Alaska from Russia. Regardless of its origin, creating Baked Alaska back in the day was only for the fearless. The elements are not complicated - it's cake and ice cream and meringue, all within reach of even a moderately good chef. But the trick is in the execution. Get the temperatures wrong and you had a plate of dripping, soggy mess.
So a good chef – and access to reliable refrigeration – were key to a triumphant Baked Alaska. The dessert, in single or multiple servings, resembling a snow-topped Alaskan mountain, became almost a status symbol and a classic showstopper of a dessert.
Cruise lines got into the spirit when modern refrigeration was installed on ocean liners and Baked Alaska became the celebratory peak of cruise dining, with Baked Alaska 'parades': a procession of dining room staff each bearing a flaming Baked Alaska for each table of diners to top off an evening of formal dining. (Hilariously, often to the unofficial Baked Alaska parade theme song of 'Hot, Hot, Hot').
Baked Alaska is rarely seen in restaurants nowadays… but lives on in cruise culture. Where better than a cruise to Alaska to learn how to make this classic – and classic cruising – dish?
Regent Seven Seas Mariner's pastry chef showed BestTrip.TV his tips and tricks to perfect Baked Alaska… and shared his recipe here for you.
Bon Appetit!
Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Recipe for Baked Alaska
10 Servings
Ingredients
- 250 grams French Meringue (see recipe below)
- 150 grams Raspberry Coulis (Sauce)
- 100 grams Vanilla Sauce
- 160 grams Vanilla Ice Cream (or a combination of your choice of ice creams)
- 160 grams Chocolate Ice Cream
- 160 grams Strawberry Ice Cream
- assorted berries
- mint leafs
Syrup
Bring to a boil, cool down
- 62.5 grams water
- 31 grams sugar
Add the kirsch liqueur, keep refrigerated
- 6.5 grams kirsch liqueur
Sponge (or purchased sponge cake)
- 78 grams whole milk
- 23.5 grams butter
- 23.5 grams flour
- 5 fresh egg yolks
- 6 fresh egg whites
- 15.5 grams sugar
- grated zest of 1/3 of a clean orange
- 6 mL Grand Marnier liquor
French Meringue
- 9 fresh egg whites
- 170 grams sugar
- 1.25 grams vanilla extract
Method:
French Meringue:
- Start whisking the egg whites by incorporating one quarter of the sugar little by little.
- Once the egg whites have doubled in volume, add another quarter of the sugar and the vanilla.
- Keep whisking until firm and shiny, then add the remaining sugar and whisk for another minute.
Sponge:
- Combine milk and butter and bring to a boil.
- Pour the flour into the milk, keep on stirring over the heat until it starts to become a paste.
- Put mixture into mixing bowl, at low speed add the egg yolks, grated orange skin and Grand Marnier.
- Keep beating on fast speed for 10 seconds.
- Meanwhile whip the egg whites to a meringue with sugar.
- Mix a little meringue into the batter until obtaining a homogenized paste; then gently fold the meringue into the batter.
- Line sheet pans with pan liners, spread the mix onto it and make a fine layer of ½ cm in height.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 10 minutes and until the sponge is baked properly, cool down to room temperature, then before using in Baked Alaska, sprinkle the syrup over the sponge cake.
Assembly:
- For each serving, use a 6 cm ramekin, lined with plastic wrap.
- Cut a round disk of the sponge to fit the inner part of the bottom. Fill with chocolate first, then vanilla then strawberry ice cream.
- Cut a round disk out of the sponge fitting the inner part of the top, press gently down and freeze immediately
- Meanwhile prepare the meringue.
- Place your serving plate over top of the frozen ramekin, turn over and remove plastic wrap. Spread the meringue all over, using piping technique or a spatula. Mimic a mountain landscape.
- Turn on your blowtorch and brown the edges of the meringue. Decorate the plate with raspberry coulis and vanilla sauce, berries and a spring of mint.
- Serve instantly.
Start your Trip!
Copyright BestTrip.TV/Influence Entertainment Group Inc or Rights Holder. All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Alaska's breathtaking scenery and wildlife encounters will be memories that stay with you a lifetime. But there are one-of-a-kind tangible memories you can take home as well as your photos and close-encounter stories.


Alaskan Kelp Pickles

Vodka or Gin made from Alaskan Glacier Water


Alaska Jade

Ulu

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It's only 20 miles from Skagway, Alaska's deepwater port on the coast, to the border of Canada's Yukon. But what a 20 miles they are!
The White Pass & Yukon Route railway ride is one of the most dramatic scenic experiences in the Alaska Panhandle. No wonder it's an all-time favorite experience for cruise travelers arriving in the preserved, Wild (North)West town of Skagway. The tracks go right onto the dock, so we stepped off the Regent Seven Seas Mariner right onto the train. And from there, on an incredible climb to the Continental Divide and the border with Canada.
It's an epic journey of breathtaking scenery and Klondike Goldrush tales - in vintage train cars that take you back to the days of prospectors and adventurers.
Meet the train conductor and hear his stories of this fabled train - one of the world's most scenic and historic rail journeys.
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You're probably thinking somewhere in the Wild West. Good for you if you guessed the Wild North-West.
We walked off our Regent Seven Seas cruise to Alaska and felt like we were walking back in time. Specifically, to 1896 when gold was found in the Klondike in Canada's Yukon.
There are a hundred preserved Gold Rush era buildings in downtown Skagway, Alaska, complete with wooden boardwalks and costumed 'Good Time Girls' in the formerly infamous Red Onion saloon.
Skagway, in the Alaska Panhandle on the Pacific coast, provided the most direct route for the masses of aspiring gold miners to reach the Klondike. With its deepwater port, large ships from the West Coast of the US or Canada could dock in Skagway to disgorge their loads of miners, pack animals and supplies. From there, it got harder: a grueling, 500-mile trek to the gold fields in Canada.
Overnight, the city swelled with prospectors and shops and services for prospectors, styled after other towns in the North American West with false-front buildings opening onto wooden boardwalks lining a grid of broad streets. The population ballooned, with 8000 people in town and 30,000 souls in the greater Skagway area.
It was the largest city in Alaska, where only the strong and the lucky survived. And it seemed every swindler, con artist and criminal in the land converged on Skagway. For the next two years, Skagway was lawless, and Canada's North West Mounted Police called it 'little better than a hell on earth'.
Like every boom, the bust must come. The dreams of striking it rich had started to fade just a year later and by 1900 – just when a railway to the Canadian border had been completed – it was all over. (That top image is the train station that's still used today.) The same year, Skagway was incorporated as the first city in Alaska.
Skagway might have been destined to become a ghost town, reincorporated by Nature like other stops along the way to the gold fields that have now disappeared into the forests that have grown back where towns once stood. But it survived – with its well-preserved and colorful historic downtown and just 1000 citizens, only a fraction of its Gold Rush heyday. Survived in both legend and reality.
Skagway has been immortalized in literature like Jack London's 'The Call of the Wild' and even as the set of the John Wayne film 'North to Alaska'.
And, as one of the few Alaskan panhandle towns connected to the road system East into the Yukon and South into British Columbia and the Lower 48, it's a vital stop on Alaska's ferry system: the Alaska Marine Highway.
The deepwater port that unloaded hapless prospectors now accommodates cruise ships that bring about a million cruise passengers every year to this town that now homes just 1000 citizens.
There's no gold left in those distant Yukon hills, but a walk back in time to the Wild North-West in Skagway is a pretty rich cruise experience.
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The Hubbard Glacier has quite a pedigree.
And being named after Gardiner Hubbard, the man who founded or co-founded the National Geographic Society, Bell Telephone and the journal 'Science', puts a lot of pressure on a glacier.
Luckily, the Hubbard Glacier is used to pressure, and guaranteed to impress, even awe. This 'river of ice' is a natural wonder of pressurized snow in that magnificent iceberg blue. A trip to the incredible wall of ice that forms the face of the Hubbard Glacier where it meets Alaska's Disenchantment Bay is one of our most memorable moments of our cruise to Alaska on Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
We know you'll find it breathtaking too.
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