Baked Italy

By Sagegreen • March 13, 2011 • 4 Comments

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Author Notes: Combining two of my other ricotta-based recipes and using up my vast sea of egg whites, I decided to cross the Atlantic to come up with this dessert idea. It is very quick and easy. You can create this with any ricotta cake, so I used mine (http://www.food52.com/recipes/10358_figgy_upside_down_cake) and any ricotta-based ice cream, and also used mine (http://www.food52.com/recipes/10357_ice_creamed_ricotta) to get the flavors of Italy in an "a la mode" version of our baked Alaska. Hey, it was afternoon, and we wanted to try something different for tea! It was pretty delicious, too. - Sagegreen

Serves 2-4

10 ounces ricotta cake, such as figgy upside down cake on this site
1 cup ricotta ice cream, such as ice creamed ricotta on this site
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond essence
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a baking dish, fashion the ricotta cake on the bottom and a mound of the ice cream on top. Store in the freezer.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Whip the egg whites with a mixer. Slowly add the sugar, salt and almond flavoring. Continue beating until you have stiff peaks.
Take out the baking dish from the freezer. Mound up the meringue on top. Using a spoon sculpt a pattern wavelets on top if you like.
Pop into the oven and watch like a hawk for about 5 minutes until the peaks are golden brown. Serve immediately: Have at it!