Sunday
Dec302007
Champagne Dreams and Sweet Wishes: An Experiment in Champagne and Dessert Pairing
Sunday, December 30, 2007
With a new year upon us, it's time to pause and reflect. A time to resolve to do better next year, to recall the good moments of last year...and of course, a time to imbibe mass quantities of champagne.
And this brings up a very important question: what desserts might go best with your bubbly at a New Year's Eve bash?
In an effort to address this pressing issue, we at Cakespy have done an intensive taste testing, trying out champagne with a variety of party-friendly desserts to see which pairings work best. We tried to choose a range of desserts with different and distinct flavors, ranging from salty-sweet (chocolate covered pretzels) to sweet-but-tart (Skittles) to the truly saccharine (pop-tarts; cupcakes); each one was tried with a few sips of champagne to see how the flavors would mingle. Here's our review:
Cakespy Note: To be completely technical our tasting was done with sparkling wine; nonetheless, "champagne" rolls off the tongue so much nicer, and we think you know what we mean, so that's the word we're using in this writeup. Also, our apologies to any champagne enthusiasts who may be offended that we used the "wrong" type of glass.
Champagne with Peanut Butter Cookies: The logic behind the pairing was inspired by the concept of opposites. The tartness of jelly seems to go nicely with peanut butter, so would the tartly acidic champagne do the same with a peanut butter cookie? Unfortunately, in our opinion, no. The flavors seemed to be fighting with one another, and the champagne won the battle, washing out the flavor of the cookie. Bummer.
Champagne with dark Chocolate Truffles: This combination was surprisingly good; the not too-sweet dark chocolate ganache was an excellent balance to the sharp, bubbly champagne. However, one taster noted that while the combination was good, it was not quite as good as pairing dark chocolate with red wine.
Champagne with Vanilla Cupcakes (with vanilla frosting and sprinkles): We thought this combination might be sweet overload, but it turned out to be a very...happy combination. Maybe it was a combination of the sugar, sprinkles and bubbles, but this combo made us giddy.
Champagne with Skittles: We were split down the middle with this one. Where some thought the combination was entirely too sour, some enjoyed the sweet, tart tastes intermingling. Bonus: this one is extra fun if you put one of the Skittles in the champagne and watch it dance amongst the bubbles.
Champagne with Brownies: You'd think that we'd love this combo based on liking the dark chocolate and champagne combo, but somehow the brownie just didn't work quite as well. Perhaps it was just too heavy, but the brownie overpowered the champagne and just made it taste sour.
Champagne with Chocolate Covered Pretzels: To us, this combination was a very good one; the saltiness of the pretzels could stand up to the acidity and strong taste of the champagne, and the chocolate gave a nice, mellow aftertaste.
Champagne with Pop-Tarts: The tastes worked quite nicely on this combo at first, with the shortbready crust and frosted strawberry goodness heightened by the bubbles. However, the aftertaste was a little bit cloying to our oh-so-refined tastes, so we wouldn't rate it one of our favorite combinations.
To sum it all up? While our favorite combinations seemed to be either chocolate covered pretzels with champagne or cupcakes with champagne, like so many things, it really seemed to be a matter of personal taste, and so we welcome you to host your own tasting to see for yourself what combinations work for you! No matter what the results, it's bound to be a sweet and rewarding experience.
In the meantime, here's to a year of experimentation, growth, and much sweetness.
Happy 2008!
tagged cakespy mischief, tastings
cakespy mischief, tastings
Reader Comments (25)
Great post! If Pop Tarts had gone well with champagne, you may have convinced me to take them to a New Years Eve party. I think I'll stick with crab dip and cheesecake.
Hilarious - I love this - skittles and champagne?! Awesome!
Personally, I like anything with champagne.
Happy New Year!
You crack me up! Happy New Year!!
Okay, you guys are strange and I love you. :)
I thought those were skittles in champagne but was all "huh?" Very funny. I think all a brownie needs is a good glass of milk.
Happy New Year!
What a cute post! I think champagne goes well with any dessert myself, maybe that's just because I love both so much. Enjoy throwing back some bubbly tonight with whatever fancies your sweetooth!
Forget about the paring...I want to know about research on BATHING in Bubbly Wine! THAT's a Bubble bath that I could really get into!
Happy 2008!
Rolling in dough. Bathing in bubbly.
I'm liking the prospects of 2008 already!
Let us know when you need to do a "spy" trip down to our little red tiled "cupcake capital of California" on the beach.
You crazy kids. :-)
Happy New Year!
Ann
I love how you put a pop tart in the champagne! Cupcakes with champagne sound like the best combo to me though. :)
I wonder how the increase in champagne consumption affected the tastes. I know that after a fair amount of wine, everything seems appetizing. :)
What a cute site. I LOVE it! My teeth are hurting a bit on some of the combos, though (pop tarts and skittles...) but what a hilarious thing to do. Could you walk after you were done? I'm cracking up here.
Champagne with Pop-Tarts...hilarious!
I'm a tee-totaler 99.9% of the time (I know, "party pooper"), but on the rare occasions I've imbibed champagne, I've found it quite lovely.
Personally, I would want gummy bears with mine. Mmmmm... now THAT'S a wicked combination!
Thanks for visiting my blog, Quoibles... stop by the other one if you'd like. I will be hosting a cooking-related competition in about a week or so. (The first one was in December.) I think you'd be perfect as an entrant!
Happy new year to you!
Angelique
champagne and pop tarts... what a breakfast that would be, haha! i think the skittles look really cool at the bottom of the glass with all the bubblies around them :)
I'm a total sweet tooth, so I'd rather drink an asti spumanti than champagne. And Tosti pairs quite nicely with Snickers!
Happy 2008!
Happy New Year Health Wealth and Love. Denise Massachusetts Yum!
as ever, excellent research. the scientific community of dessert consumers is grateful for your hard work.
Tracy: Crab dip and cheesecake? Hopefully not together...
Anne-Marie: Yea! You should try it out! :-)
a.: A girl after our own heart. ;-)
Katia: Thanks! We crack ourselves up too, it keeps things fun!
Stephanie: Yeah, I guess we are kinda strange, but glad you like us in spite of (because of??) it !
Vegan Noodle: Hope you had a nice New Year's Eve too!
Cookie Jill: I think we'll be coming down the CA coast in 2008!
Ann: Happy new year to you too--may you have much pie and happiness in the year ahead!
Eat Me, Delicious: Yeah, that was probably the funniest one! The cupcakes were awesome with it.
Kelly Jean: So true, so true!
The Quoibler: Thanks, we will come by to see about that competition!
Ruby Red Vegan: You're right, it was like half art project, half food project.
Surcie: Ohhh that sounds yummy! Snickers with anything. ;-)
Shabby Cottage: A yummy new year to you too!
Moonrat: Anything for science. Happy New year!
Happy New Year! Champagne and Skittles! Now who would have ever thought it? Beautiful picture! : )
I love your experiments! Just the sight of skittles in champagne is pretty giggly (although I think I simply must try it with cupcakes, now!)
Pop-Tarts go great with beer, and that's my favorite Pop-Tart (pictured).
Great post. As always, you are an inspiration.
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It's fun to combine different amounts of different flavors and seeing how it affects the flavor. It's even more fun eating the gummy Skittles after drinking said experiment.
Thanks for the other sweet-matches!