What exactly is an ice cream bombe?

An ice cream bombe, or bombe glacée in French, is a dessert made by shaping ice cream into a dome using a bowl lined with plastic wrap. It often features a base layer of sponge cake or pie crust. After it sets, the bombe is taken out of the bowl and adorned with additional elements such as hardened chocolate or the signature torched meringue, famously associated with the renowned ice cream bombe known as Baked Alaska. The name of this dessert is derived from its resemblance to a cannonball or bomb, and it was popularized by the illustrious French chef Auguste Escoffier, who also created dishes like dauphine potatoes and peach melba.
Due to its impressive presentation and the skill required to prepare it, ice cream bombes are typically reserved for special occasions, much like the dinner parties hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. However, this extravagant dessert made another notable appearance when a special version, called Bombe Glacée Princesse Elizabeth, was created in her honor for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. This customized bombe featured strawberries cultivated by palace staff in a hothouse, as they were out of season at the time.
Other treats enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II's fondness for Darren McGrady's ice cream bombe clearly indicated her sweet tooth. This raises the question of what other delights the monarch enjoyed when cravings struck. As previously mentioned, she also relished the royal chef's coffee-infused chocolate mousse, but the dessert most often regarded as her favorite—at least her preferred cake—was much simpler. We're talking about chocolate biscuit cake, which is more like a slice made from crunchy cookie pieces mixed into a blend of butter, sugar, and melted dark chocolate, then chilled and finished with a layer of chocolate ganache.
McGrady certainly had ample experience preparing this treat for Her Majesty (there's even a recipe for it in "A Royal Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes from Buckingham Palace"). He shared with TODAY before her passing: "It is her favorite cake, and she eats it until it's all gone. If there's anything left when she has it at Buckingham Palace, it gets sent to Windsor Castle so she can finish it there. I used to travel by train from London to Windsor Castle with the biscuit cake in a tin on my lap. It was half-eaten." If that doesn't illustrate a lady with a serious sweet tooth, we don't know what does.
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