Cupcake & Wine Pairings - Try It!!

A dear friend just recently decided to turn her passion for baking into a small business opportunity. Fortunately, her baking passion happens to be one of my favorite desserts - cupcakes. I've always preferred the small cake delights to the customary birthday/wedding cakes.

This weekend I placed my first order with Kind Kupcakes for one dozen red velvet. After a fabulous Sunday brunch hosted by hokiehale, I devoured my first cake. It was all I had truly hoped it would be. I opted to save my second for an after dinner treat. I paired my red velvet all natural cupcake with DelFosse 2007 Cabernet Fran. This wine selection was sent to me in April as part of the Virginia Wine of the Month Club. I've been so excited to try it, I didn't really think about how it might actually go with a red velvet cupcake. As I sipped my wine and savored my cupcake, I glanced at my VA Wine Club Newsletter. They suggest pairing this wine with hearty roast. Odd..no mention of red velvet cupcakes.

I know very little if anything about wine pairing. Generally, I just go with a feeling when I select wine. "I feel red" "I feel white" "I feel crazy, let's hit the sparkling wines" While this pairing could be criticized by more experienced wine drinkers, I say to them don't knock until you try it! This red velvet cupcake was not sickeningly sweet or overly rich. It was incredibly light and full of flavor. Despite the lack of thought put into my pairing, I found it to match rather nicely with a heavy Cab Franc. Or maybe it was just the fact that I really like cupcakes and I really like red wine, so how could I go wrong!

I've thought of a few other cupcake wine pairings I'd like to try using Merlot or Sauvignon Blanc. I think this would make for a really fun cocktail party!! Kind Kupcakes makes a heck of a cupcake, so checkout their website to see if you can think of your own unique ways to pair wine with cupcakes.