Southern Peach and Butter Pecan Baked Alaska from Baked With Love: Holiday
Photo Credit: ©️The Hallmark Channel 2025
Mom and I are continuing our journey on Hallmark Channel’s Baked with Love: Holiday! Each week we’ve been competing, I’ve brought the family bake recipes to my blog to share with y’all—with one small exception. Episode 5 featured a fondant surprise cake. And to be completely honest, I’m just not a huge fan of fondant, so I didn’t feel the need to recreate that particular recipe. However… I definitely did want to share our Episode 6 winning Baked Alaska recipe!
Photo Credit:©️The Hallmark Channel 2025
We were completely surprised by Santa in Episode 5 and beyond grateful for the opportunity to stay onboard the Baked with Love: Holiday competition for another round. Episode 6 brought us into the world of cold bakes—think no-bake cheesecakes for the surprise challenge (hopefully that recipe will be coming soon!) and of course, the Baked Alaska.
Photo Credit: ©️The Hallmark Channel 2025
There are certain desserts that stop conversations—and Baked Alaska is one of them. It looks dramatic, it feels fancy, and yet this version is surprisingly approachable. Inspired by Southern flavors I grew up loving, this Baked Alaska is layered with peach ice cream, butter pecan ice cream, and a buttery pecan shortbread crumble, all resting on a bourbon-butter glazed cake base. A fluffy cloud of meringue gets toasted until golden brown right before serving. It’s show-stopping, nostalgic, and unbelievably delicious.
Photo Credit: ©️The Hallmark Channel 2025
Grab the full printable recipe below. And if you’ve been tuning in, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are so thrilled to continue on to Episode 7 in the competition. Can’t wait for you to see what we have baking up our sleeves!
-XOXO-
Sally
Baked Alaska
Taste the flavors of the South in this Baked Alaska. Layers of peach ice cream and butter pecan ice cream sandwich a pecan shortbread crumble, all resting on a bourbon-butter glazed cake (yes, it’s as heavenly as it sounds).
Encased in fluffy meringue and toasted to golden perfection—this dessert is a Southern showstopper. If you’ve never tried Baked Alaska before, I hope this one inspires you!
Don’t want to make homemade ice cream, no worries! Grab the recipe shortcuts in the recipe notes below.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of sliced peaches in heavy syrup from a 15.25 oz can, drained
- 1 cup of peach pie filling from a 21 oz can
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (473 ml)
- 1 cup whole milk (237 ml)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped (128 grams)
- 4T unsalted butter (57 grams)
- 2T brown sugar (23 grams)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (473 ml)
- 1 cup whole milk (237ml)
- 1T vanilla extract (15ml)
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar (210 grams)
- 1.25 tsp vanilla extract (6ml)
- 1 cup AP flour (120 grams)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder (2.5 grams)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85 grams)
- ¼ cup bourbon whiskey (2 ounces)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 5T unsalted butter room temperature (70 grams)
- 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (40 grams)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt (2.5ml)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (90 grams)
- 1/3 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (40 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 6T unsalted butter, cut in pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 12 large egg whites, at room temp
- 1T cream of tartar (15ml)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 cups granulated sugar (600 grams)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (10ml)
Instructions
- Line the inside of a large 10” bowl with plastic wrap, set aside. Drain the can of peaches in heavy syrup. Roughly chop 1/2 cup of drained peaches (save remaining peaches for another use), set aside. Purée one cup of the peach pie filling (save remaining peach pie filling for another use), set aside. In a stand mixer, combine heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, vanilla, and kosher salt in a bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk over medium speed until all ingredients are well combined.
- Pour whisked ingredients and puréed pie filling into ice cream maker. Churn until soft ice cream starts to form, about 18-20 minutes. Pour roughly chopped peach pieces into soft ice cream and churn for an additional amount of time until chopped peaches are fully combined. Press soft ice cream into plastic wrapped lined bowl. Place bowl into the freezer.
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Prepare a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper, leaving a hangover of 2” on each side, set aside. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add flour until dough starts to come together. Fold nuts into dough. Press dough into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove shortbread from pan, crumble, and transfer to a sheet tray into the fridge to cool. Once shortbread is completely cool, remove the lined bowl with peach ice cream and press cooled shortbread into peach ice cream layer. Return the bowl to freezer.
- Finely chop pecans. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté pecans in butter until nutty and fragrant. Remove pecans from skillet and place them into a heat proof bowl, then stir in brown sugar until fully combined. Place pecan mixture in the refrigerator to cool.
- In a stand mixer, combine heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk over medium speed until all ingredients are well combined. Pour whisked ingredients into ice cream maker. Churn until soft ice cream starts to form, about 18-20 minutes. Remove buttered pecans from refrigerator and pour into soft ice cream. Churn for an additional amount of time until buttered pecans are fully combined. Remove lined bowl of peach ice cream from freezer. Press soft ice cream on top of the pecan shortbread layer and return the bowl to the freezer.
- Meanwhile, while the peach ice cream is being made. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Spray a 12” round cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Make the vanilla sponge cake. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat 6 eggs for about 1 minute over medium speed. Over medium speed, slowly add sugar and vanilla. Turn mixer to high speed and beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until they are fluffy and light yellow, this usually takes about 6-8 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder and whisk until combined. Once egg mixture is ready, sift dry ingredients into egg mixture. Carefully fold flour mixture in until no flour streaks remain, being careful not to deflate the sponge cake batter. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the bourbon butter glaze. Place the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium-heat. Cook, stirring continuously, until the butter is melted. Whisk in the whiskey until combined. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar until just combined—at this point, the glaze will seem thick and sugary.
- Once the glaze is made, pour it over the sponge cake while the cake is still warm. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature. Once the cake is cooled to room temperature, remove the lined ice cream bowl from the freezer and place the cake (glaze side down) on top of the butter pecan ice cream layer. Return the bowl to the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and corn syrup. Stir until well combined. Heat ingredients in saucepan over medium-high heat. Do not stir, if crystallization starts to occur on the sides of the saucepan, use a wet pastry brush to gently brush the sides of the saucepan. Once the sugar mixture begins to take on color, carefully watch until mixture turns amber. Remove the saucepan from heat and carefully pour in vanilla, then stream in heavy whipping cream, whisking constantly. Be careful of the steam coming off of the pot while whisking. Stir in salt, transfer to a bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 5 minutes over medium speed. Transfer caramel to a heat proof bowl to cool completely. Caramel sauce can be drizzled over individual slices.
- Combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and kosher salt in a large, completely clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Stir ingredients on low speed until mixture becomes foamy. Increase speed to high gradually add sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition until sugar is dissolved (about 15-20 seconds between each addition).
- Beat until mixture is thick, shiny, and has increased in volume. Mixture should have stiff peaks and sugar should be completely dissolved. Stir in vanilla extract and any other extract you may like to use. If using food coloring, add the food coloring at this stage, too. Fit a large disposable piping bag with a large tip and fill piping bag with meringue.
- To build The Baked Alaska, invert the ice cream bowl, cake side down onto cake stand. Remove the bowl and plastic wrap. Use different style large tips to pipe meringue all over the ice cream and cake, covering it completely in meringue. Use a kitchen torch to torch meringue. Return baked Alaska to the freezer until ready to serve.
Notes
While a Baked Alaska with homemade ice cream is delicious, you can certainly sub out a half gallon of store bought peach ice cream and half gallon butter pecan ice cream to save some time. Allow store bought ice cream to slightly soften before pressing ice cream layers into prepared bowl!