Turkish coffee cake and espresso

I was casting around for a dessert to make for friends on Saturday when I remembered this fantastic coffee cake from chef Margot Henderson’s book You’re all Invited. I suppose it’s more of a mid-morning or tea-time treat but I sometimes prefer cake to a full-blown pudding at the end of a rich meal.

It’s not as intensely coffee-flavoured as it sounds from the name. There’s a shedload of soft brown sugar - and sour cream - in the recipe which makes it taste quite fudgy (did I say it was light? Er, hem…) but you get that nice dark rich coffee taste without it being at all bitter.

I paired it on the night with a Noval 10 year old tawny port but it would also have been delicious with an Aussie port drinkalike like the D’Arenberg Nostalgia Rare Tawny or with a sweet oloroso sherry, madeira or marsala. But I enjoyed it most the following morning when I scoffed a piece for breakfast with a cup of espresso (which I always dilute with a bit of hot water). A black Americano would also hit the spot.

I do urge you to get the book which full of equally lovely recipes and quite delightful. You can read about Margot who happends to be married to Fergus Henderson of St John here or visit her restaurant Rochelle's Canteen which I'm ashamed to say I've so far not managed to get to.

Paul A Young Shropshire Blue and walnut chocolate truffles with Taylor’s First Estate Reserve port

Port and stilton is one of the classic wine pairings but does it work if you pair a port with a blue cheese chocolate?

I’m pleased to report on the strength of a fascinating tasting with Paul A Young at cookery writer Thane Prince’s cookbook club at The Drapers Arms last week that it does.

The chocolate was a seasonal addition to the Paul A Young range - a gorgeous gooey Shropshire Blue, walnut and cider (I think*) truffle with the flavour of the cheese just coming through at the end. (Too often the chocolate gets lost in the cheese.)

And the port? A bit of a surprise. I’d thought a younger port might be too spiritty but the ripe berry flavours of the Taylor’s Reserve (widely available at around £12) were exactly right with the truffle - and with a beautifully crafted dark Venezuelan* chocolate bar which wore its 82%* cocoa solids incredibly lightly. Ruby port and dark chocolate is, of course, a winner too.

Two other matches stood out in the tasting: the Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847 sherry with very dry, intense cocoa nibs which brought out delicious candied fruit flavours in the wine and a lovely, apricotty Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel from Chile (the bargain of the evening at £4.99 currently from Majestic) with the plain truffle bar.

Three wines I expected to shine didn’t do quite as well - Waitrose’s Seriously Plummy Maury which was a bit overwhelmed by the truffles, a Rutherglen Muscat (too sweet - would have been better with a pecan pie) and a Blandy’s madeira (nice but not as impressive as the sherry). The salted caramels defeated everything we threw at them. I think they needed an armagnac or cognac.

Incidentally if you want to have a crack at making a slightly simpler version of Paul’s truffles there’s a recipe here.

* There is a certain vagueness about this post. Due to extreme over-excitement about the chocolates and being pre-occupied with serving the drinks I forgot to take notes!

Chocolate brownies, vanilla ice-cream and PX sherry

This was by far the most popular pairing at a chocolate and wine tasting I did for the West of England Wine and Spirit Association in Bristol on Friday night. We didn’t actually have the ice cream but I think it would have made it even better.

The brownies, which were particularly squidgy and chocolatey, were made by local brownie queen, caterer and supper club host Elly Curshen of Pear Cafe and apparently contained half a kilo of dark chocolate. They obviously overwhelmed our lighter wines but even proved a bit of a handful for our sweet reds including an LBV port. However they were sensationally good with an intensely sweet, deeply raisiny, Pedro Ximenez sherry from Sanchez Romate Hnos (£22.50 in a very handsome bottle from Great Western Wine) - the best PX I’ve tasted.

You might think it’s gilding the lily but I can think of a way of making the combination even yummier: serving the brownies just warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. PX is often recommended poured over vanilla ice-cream so why not serve it with the brownies and a small glass alongside? An easy and indulgent dessert.

Incidentally I do hold food and drink tastings (not just wine) regularly - usually in London, Bristol or Bath but will consider going further afield. (I was recently asked to do one in Australia!) Contact me at fiona AT matchingfoodandwine DOT com or check out this page if you’d like to know more.

10 year old tawny with bitter chocolate and malt tart with salted caramel ice cream

I was hoping for an interesting pairing from the last meal of the year and wasn't disappointed. Like last year we went to a New Year's Eve dinner at Montpelier Basement supper club where we were treated to an amazing 8 course feast which lasted into the early hours of the morning.

There were some other good matches (I could have recommended a creamy cauliflower and Stichelton soup with a 2009 Felton Road Chardonnay) but this one struck me as the outstanding pairing of the night.

Truth to tell I'd hoped a beer would do the job (I had a bottle of the Bristol Beer Factory Glenlivet aged Imperial Stout that went so well with my Stichelton the other week) but it proved too bitter with the salted caramel ice cream. The bottle of rich, nutty Tesco Finest 10 year old tawny we'd taken as a back-up worked much better - as I should have known. Tawny port is very good with both chocolate and caramel.

I also tried a sip of my neighbour's PX sherry which also paired really well with the ice cream - as it does with vanilla.

A good way to start the New Year. Happy 2012!

Image © Mariusz Blach - Fotolia.com