Food and Wine Matching with Kindling Restaurant - White Chocolate Fudge with Dark Chocolate Crumb

A dessert recipe from Kindling Restaurant, Brighton - with some attempted wine matches

Kindling Restaurant in Brighton is about more than just the delicious food, it is a community of people: staff, customers and suppliers all sharing and celebrating local produce. Nature writes the menu as the seasons inspire the dishes. Kindling is featured in the Michelin Guide and is a member of the Sustainable Restaurants Association.

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Chef Holly Taylor: credit Jo Hunt

The Food - White chocolate fudge with dark chocolate crumb 

This is Kindling’s signature petit four, but it also makes an excellent Mother’s Day gift. Sweet, creamy and soft this fudge is perfect with a cup of coffee or espresso martini.

The Wines

The fundamental rule of matching sweet foods is that the wine should always be sweeter than the food. Fudge is about as sweet and rich as desserts come, so this is a tricky match.

Cream sherry or whisky would be the traditional options but for something lighter, fresher and a little more unusual, serve the fudge in very small pieces and match with either a botrytised Riesling or an Italian red fizz. .

Belmonte Marlborough Botrytised Riesling 2018 - Virgin Wines

New Zealand dessert Riesling:

aromas of roses, orange marmalade, dried apricots and butterscotch; unctuously sweet and opulent, very concentrated and intense yet also fresh and balanced; complex botrytis flavours of beeswax, aromatic scrubland bitter herbs and hedonistic overripe peaches.

This is a very sophisticated dessert wine that stands up to the sweetness of the fudge.

Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d’aqui - Flagship Wines

Made from Brachetto grapes, this red fizz is fermented in stainless steel for freshness and aromatics, with some lees aging for complexity and just 7.4% alcohol.

intensely aromatic with roses and soft red berries; elegant soft red fruits with hints of almond and nutmeg; sweet yet refreshing; very elegant with crisp red berries and some leesy complexity

Light and moreish, the wine is not overpowered by the fudge but plays a supporting role, with the sweetness of the fudge enhancing the freshness of the wine.

The Recipe

To make the dark chocolate crumb:

30g water

125g sugar

60g dark chocolate

1. Put the water and sugar in a pan and cook to 168C, checking the temperature with a thermometer suitable for high temperatures.

2. Remove from the heat, stir in chocolate to create the soil.

3. Cool on a baking paper lined tray, then chop to a medium crumb.

To make the fudge:

500g of caster sugar

150g of glucose syrup

280g of double cream

330g of white chocolate, chopped

75g of butter

1. Line an 8 inch cake tin with non-stick paper.

2. Place the sugar, glucose syrup and double cream in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook whilst stirring to a temperature of 114C. Be careful not to heat the mixture too strongly because it can bubble and spit. Be patient, heat it steadily and keep stirring at all times.

3. Once the mixture is at the correct temperature, remove it from the heat and add the butter and chopped white chocolate. Stir well until everything is melted together. If the mixture is a little stiff, you might want to return it to the heat for a few seconds to ensure it is liquid enough to pour into your tin.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and immediately sprinkle the top with the chocolate soil.

5. Allow to cool at room temperature, then wrap the tin in clingfilm and chill overnight in the fridge.

6. The fudge is easiest to cut when cold and should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.