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!