Sweet, smooth, and moist, a slice of cake is a wonderful way to end the meal on a positive note. From creamy chocolatey to fresh berries, there are a wide variety of cake selections for every tastebud.
A tasty, delicious, and authentic cake is what fans want to wrap up a party celebration. Whether alcohol or non-alcohol, serving a nice drink will transform the cake party into a fiesta.
What to drink with cake? The rule of thumb for cake and drink pairings is chocolate cake with dessert wine or dark-fruited reds are best, vanilla cake with riesling, and fruit cake with white rum.
The classic red velvet cake pairs with pinot noir, cheesecake with white dessert wine, and lemon flavored cake with riesling.
When it comes to non-alcoholic drinks, serve cake with herbal teas, cappuccino, mocktails, lemonade, milk, smoothies, and coffee.
Serving cake with beverages helps to diffuse the overwhelming sweetness in every mouthful. It helps to cleanse the palate to enjoy the next bite of dessert flavor and texture.
From cheesecake to cupcakes and chocolate flavored cakes, it can be intimidating to find the perfect drink pairings. Wondering what to drink with a cake? Here are the latest trends, so let’s dive in.
What drink goes best with cake?
Typically, nice glass of champagne complement well with cake. The bubbly, refreshment adds flavor to the sweetness and creaminess of cakes.
In fact, the right pairing will boost the experience instead of lower the expectations or even overpower the flavor of wine. Therefore, choosing the right drinks with cake is an important decision.
- Red velvet cake: The cake has a smooth texture that calls for a pinot noir to accent its undertones.
- Funfetti cake: Serve it with a sparkling rose, since funfetti calls for a wine that is fun to revive the sugary cake. We suggest to go for Patrick Bottex La Cueille Buggey Cerdon for a complete party experience.
- Vanilla cake: Riesling and vanilla cake appear destined to be together with their sweet and bold flavors. Every guest is sure to love how each bite tastes delicious on their tongue.
- Lemon-flavored cakes: Prosecco is a perfect fit. The drink is light and delivers citrus bubbles that intensify tart flavors in the cake. Sure, every bite will blow your tastebuds away.
- Birthday cake: Bordeaux is a match made in heaven. Imagine combining the berry flavors of Bordeaux and earthy aromas with the sweet flavors of birthday cake.
What alcohol goes with cake?
Other than wine, there are types of alcohol that goes well with cake. Second popular alcohol are creamy liquor such as Baileys, Whiskey, or Irish cream, and gin.
However, the liquor selection varies depending on the type of cake. For fruit cake, try with rum, brandy, whiskey, cherry brandy, amaretto, and chocolatey cake with scotch.
Beer is another choice that is typically uncommon to serve with cake. Here are beer selections to try with cake:
- Apricot or mandarin cake: blonde ale
- Carrot cake, cheesecake: double or imperial IPA
- Almond or maple walnut cake: brown ale
- Chocolate cake: porter, stout, Imperial stout
- Strawberry shortcake: hefeweizen
Non-alcoholic drinks that go with a cake
Wine and beer are not the only options when it comes to pairing with dessert cake.
Tea and chocolate are always a perfect match, which is especially true with teas that are low in tannins. We suggest flower teas and white teas, but black or green teas also do a nice job.
Other non-alcoholic drinks that go with cake are:
- tea
- sparkling water
- hot chocolate
- coffee
- cappuccino
- ginger ale
- fruit juice
- mocktails
- milk
What drink is good with chocolate?
Stout and chocolate are an irresistible midweek dessert. Stout is dark and sweet brew paired with a chocolate cake to make it tasty.
For a regular stout, we suggest Samuel Adams or Guinness.
Plenty of wines go well with chocolate, but dessert wines are a real hit. Settle for something sweeter than the chocolate to balance the acidity.
Popular wines may include Madeira, Muscat, Ice wine, and Sauternes. Add a few berries to the chocolate for an extra special treat.
From dark to white chocolate, there are quite a few options to pair with the right drinks.
Here are drink pairing to serve with the various types of chocolate:
- Dark chocolate: green, black, and jasmine tea, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot, Brazilian roast coffee, sparkling water, hot chocolate
- Milk chocolate: Pinot noir, merlot, Gewurtztraminer, Columbian roast coffee, oolong tea
- White chocolate: Riesling, Moscato, rosè
Cake and Drinks: Conclusion
Planning for a get-together or party soon? We hope this post will help you get started what drinks to serve with cake.
No matter what flavor the cake is and whether you are serving booze or non-alcoholic drinks, there are choices for everyone.
In general, chocolate cake goes well with dessert wine or dark red wine, vanilla flavored cake with Riesling, and fruit infused cake with rum.
The classic red velvet, cheesecake, and lemon cakes always taste good with wine.
But when it comes to beer selection, try citrus or stone fruit cake with light blonde ale, carrot cake or cheesecake with double IPA, nut based cake with brown ale, chocolate cake with dark stout, and strawberry shortcake with hefeweizen.
For all non-alcoholic drinker, try a delicious slice of cake with coffee, cappuccino, milk, tea, and juice of your preference.
For chocolate cakes, there are wide range of chocolate flavor from dark to milk and white, which impact the beverage pairing.
Regardless of what drinks you decide to pair the cake with, the tips and suggestions in this guide are classic pairings that are worth a try.