British Bake Off - Baked Alaska Debacle

I was amused to see front page headlines this week over the Baked Alaska debacle at the Great British Bake Off. Although I have seen it from time to time, I’m not a regular viewer of the programme but as a professional cook, and former chef to the British Ambassador to the United Nations in New York for some years, it brought to mind my own near disaster.

The Ambassador was giving a formal dinner for the Japanese Ambassador, and there would have been around 24 guests present. I had decided to make Baked Alaska for pudding, calling it ‘Mount Fuji’ in his honour. To make an impact I made two large ones, and as I removed one from the oven it slid off the tray onto the floor. You have never seen anyone whip up another dozen egg whites so fast in all your life! So, although the assembled guests had to wait a little longer for their pud, I had narrowly managed to avert disaster, and to save our diplomatic reputation.

I can also recall, more recently, several cases of sabotage, where an unscrupulous manager would remove my baking efforts from the oven when I was absent from the kitchen, in an attempt to undermine my authority. It worked, I went, but I am much the happier for the experience. 

My real point, however, is that Baked Alaska is actually not that difficult to make. In this case we must always bear in mind that this is television, and the cynic in me says that this may well have more to do with improving failing ratings perhaps?