Recipe and Wine Pairing: No.Vo.Té with Dark Chocolate Berry Cake*

[Ad-gifted] The weather is warming and all I want to do is eat luscious berries and drink wine! Well this is exactly what we are doing in our latest blog.  I have created a simple yet delicious mixed berry dessert to be accompanied by this fruity red wine, Les Vignobles Foncalieu‘s No.Vo.Té. from translates to novelty, which is exactly what this wine is. It has been created from two new varieties of French vines, Artisan and Vidoc. So, although this wine is a ’novoté’ it has been created using traditional methods, and most importantly is organic, ensuring its clean and fresh taste.

Organic wines for me are a no brainer! I wish that more were made in this way, but it seems that there is still a strong reliance on pesticides when it comes to grape growing, which I suppose ensures consistency in production, which equally maintains the cost of the wines being more affordable, however, I feel that paying a little bit more and getting organic really ensures a clean taste, and believe it or not a less foggy hangover (don’t take this as a hangover-free wine though!)

What I thought of the wine and how it paired with our simple berry dessert

This is really a great easy recipe and can be used either to pair with a fruity wine and if there are any leftovers, with your morning (hangover fix) coffee! It is rare to pair wine with a dessert but it really can work. Most often they work with white wine, but there is definitely room for you to have a red as part of your dessert drink.

Now, this isn’t classed as a dessert wine (as you can find a range of those), but its fruity taste works well with sweet flavours like berries. So I have decided to create a Berry Cake for you to drink with this summery, and mellow French wine. The dark chocolate comes from the use of cocoa powder, and I chose to use thawed frozen berries in this cake, but you could also used freshly picked ones too. This combination creates a rich and moist cake and the streusel top adds texture.

The rich flavours of the cake work really well with the light, and smooth taste of this wine. The berry notes in the wine are drawn out by the berries within the cake, which makes it perfect for this dessert accompaniment. The cake is best served warm, and has a pudding-like texture. I chose to serve it with a vanilla ice cream but you could serve it with cream too, I don’t feel the wine would work with custard though (this is perhaps personal preference though). It would also work well with a chocolate ganache sauce, for the ultimate in chocolate “berriness” (not really a word but definitely the best way to describe this cake!)

Read on to find out how to make this cake, and check out the about section to find out more on Les Vignobles Foncalieu who produced this fresh new wine.

Recipe for Dark Chocolate Berry Cake with Streusel Topping

Ingredients and method

The Cake
250g of frozen-thawed summer berries (or 200g of fresh berries)
170g of Self Raising Flour
30g of (good quality) Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt (or a small pinch)
175g of softened unsalted butter
175g of brown sugar (you can use regular sugar but brown sugar does add richness to the chocolate)
3 Free range eggs

Streusel Top 

3 tbsp of plain flour
4 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tbsp of vegetable oil or soften butter
a handful of chopped pecan nuts (you can leave these out but they add a bit of crunch)

Method 

Preheat your oven to 170C or 338F

In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, butter, and eggs, and mix with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer for two minutes. Then add in 2tbsp of hot (just boiled) water, and mix for a further one minute. You will notice that the mixture has begun to lighten in colour.

When the ingredients are well incorporated, add in the berries, and gently stir them in with a spoon.

Separately make your topping – mix the flour sugar and butter/oil with your hands and make coarse breadcrumbs, then with a fork stir in the nuts.

Grease a 22cm cake pan, and dust with cocoa powder, and but in the mixture into the pan. Then level out the mixture and add on your streusel top.

Place in the middle of the oven for around 1 hour. Be sure to check halfway though as everyone’s oven cooks slightly different – the cake is done when you spike it and the skewer comes out clean, and your streusel is golden brown.

Where can you buy No.Vo.Té? 

How much is No.Vo.Té? 

About Les Vignobles Foncalieu

Situated between Carcassonne and Bézier, and within of the largest wine regions in Languedoc, Les Vignobles Foncalieu has been a wine cooperative since 1967 with around 650 winegrowers collectively working together through innovation and passion.

They have been creating organic wine since 2007 when the vineyards started to change production to a more environmentally sustainable methods. These viticulture practices include drip irrigation, the installation of grass strips, which helps to protect water quality and also to improve habitat and biodiversity.

So far 31 Hectares have the AB organic certification and 128 hectares are set to also gain this highly recognised certification going forward. In terms of wine production, this really sets the standard and ensures quality in taste and a conscious effort to protect the environment stand hand in hand.