Homebrew food pairing question

For my first post, I wanted to ask for some recommendations. I am getting married this summer, and the cake maker said she sometimes sprays a coating on the cake that has a little bit of Shiner Bock in it. I think it is more for show than actual taste, but I thought if I'm going to have a beer in my wedding cake it might as well be one of mine.

So my question is, what beers would you recommend to pair with a caramel/chocolate cake? Chocolate stouts immediately come to mind, but maybe there are some other good ideas out there.

Anything but Shiner Bock?

Chocolate Stout should work well. It's also a nice addition to an English steak pie.

The flavors in a beer, and that in the food will cancel each other out, not compound one another.

For example. If you are drinking a sour beer, and eating sour cherries, the sourness in the two will cancel each other out leaving you to taste the other flavors in both more sharply.

One of my favorite wine and cheese pairings is an earthy and fruity malbec with a sharp blue cheese. The sharpness of the blue, kills the earthiness in the wine and the fruit flavors shine through on the wine.

Also all of that being said I would think of a beer that has chocolate in the profile, but also has a lot more going on.

I would go with something not chocolate. Make a subtle contrast with the flavor. Go with a peach or cherry wheat.

A big malty lager with chocolate cake sounds good. A dark lager.
Like a chocolate malt together?

Also I would make something low in IBUs, as any sweetness in the beer will be neutralized by the taste of the sweetness in the cake, leaving more of the bitterness to come through. So if you're not careful on those IBUs the bitterness can get overwhelming in a hurry.

Perhaps a big, malty beer like a Wee Heavy or a Doppelbock. A normal chocolate stout would likely get buried by the cake, but a Russian Imperial Stout would hold its own.

A vanilla stout or porter would go well IMHO...

Arneba28 said:

I would go with something not chocolate. Make a subtle contrast with the flavor. Go with a peach or cherry wheat.

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Yeah, pretty much anything but more chocolate. Maybe a raspberry? Raspberry is my second favorite flavor to add to chocolate and I doubt a peanutbutter beer would do so well. Just be prepared for one or more guests to dunk a forkful of cake into the beer like a cookie in milk.

I'd vote for either a vanilla something or a fruit something. I agree, the chocolate wouldn't give much contrast - which I assume is what you're aiming for. A smooth vanilla, maybe with some oak tones, would be a nice contrast. Or a nice bright fruity beer.