Baked Alaska Florida" in 1894, apparently referring to the contrast between its cold and hot elements. The dish is also known as an "omelette à la norvégienne" or "Norwegian omelette", which similarly refers to the cold climate of Norway. The dish is made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding, and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for a brief time, long enough to firm and caramelize the meringue. In 1969, the recently invented microwave oven enabled Hungarian gastrophysicist Nicholas Kurti to produce a
Floating island (dessert) Katharine Hepburn's character Bunny Watson served Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) floating island dessert. In Jack London's story, The Apostate, floating island is a dish that holds a near-mythical ideal to the working class lead character. In the Nancy Drew mystery story "The Hidden Staircase", floating island is served at Twin Elms. In , floating island is one of Myrtle Snow's favorite desserts after key lime pie. Floating island (dessert) A floating island is a dessert of French origin, consisting of meringue floating on crème anglaise (a vanilla custard). The meringues are prepared from whipped egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract