Pairing a well-selected brew with your sweet of choice is something more and more people are beginning to take advantage of. It can be hard to know which ones will pair the best, but a key rule for beginners to start with is this: the richer the dessert is, the darker the coffee roast needs to be. This will bring out the best in both flavours when combined, especially with sweeter foods. The key to pairing coffee flavours with desserts is by finding ones that work in harmony with one another. Don’t shy away from mixing bitter and sweet tastes, as you may discover something amazing.
However, avoid flavours that overpower the other or are overall unpleasant together, as it can change the notes behind each item entirely. This is a strong indicator that these flavours shouldn’t be paired with one another. You should be able to taste the coffee and dessert separately while still enjoying the taste they form together. You should also avoid highly acidic foods that have a strong bitter or sour flavour with coffee, as it will also overpower the drink’s flavours.
Food preferences change with every individual, meaning a combination that tastes amazing to you could taste disgusting to someone else. You need to determine the flavours you like for yourself by testing out different coffee and dessert mixtures. This should be an enjoyable experience, experimenting with various flavour combinations to see which ones taste remarkable with one another.
Pairing Recommendations
For chocolate desserts like brownies, chocolate cake or chocolate pie, pair them with a dark roast blend or French roast. Deep chocolate flavours like those found in devil’s food cake go well with coffees of a similar richness and sweet taste.
On the other hand, the complex flavours of bourbon pecan pie are said to pair well with sweeter coffee flavours that are low in acidity and have hints of dark chocolate flavouring. For tart and creamy desserts like cheesecake, Creme Brulee, tiramisu, cream or lemon pie or just simple vanilla ice cream. Your best choices are a medium roast or medium-dark roast coffee.
For desserts with multiple flavours like chocolate truffle cake or peanut butter and chocolate desserts, pair them with french roast or dark roast blends. For fruit pastries and rice desserts like carrot cake, fruit pie or cobbler, try a medium roast or medium-dark roast. Bread desserts and denser cakes like bread pudding, angel food cake or pound cake also benefit from medium roast coffees.
Casa Romana Sweets is a gourmet food and cake bakery, bringing homemade European flavours to Oakville, Ontario for years. We use traditional family recipes for all our cakes and pastries, along with the freshest ingredients, all made without preservatives. We also have an incredibly hard-working staff, packed with talented artists who make everything by hand, entirely from scratch. Be sure to call us or stop by our cake shop for pricing or more information and to place custom orders.