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Chocolate pots with Pedro Ximénez -spiced sour cherries

Chocolate pots with Pedro Ximénez-spiced sour cherries

It’s a hard ask for a wine to withstand the sweet assault of chocolatey things, but Spain’s Pedro Ximénez fits the bill.

Matching wine with chocolate is fraught with difficulty. Sweet, milky chocolate tends to make most wines taste lean and hard – unless the wine is much sweeter than the chocolate; and dark, high cocoa-content chocolate can be bitter and clash with any astringency and/or acid in wine. This is why the very best wine for chocolate and choc-based dessert tends to be very sweet, soft and rich fortifieds. Muscat can be good, tokay excellent, but the chocolate wine par excellence is Spain’s ‘black sherry’ – or other fortified wines – made from extremely ripe, raisined Pedro Ximénez grapes. Adding some citrussy, fruity, spicy flavours into the mix, as in this dessert, makes the match even more fabulous. — Max Allen

Chocolate pots with Pedro Ximénez-spiced sour cherries

Serves 6
Chocolate pots
200 gm   dark chocolate (64.5% cocoa solids), melted
300 ml   pouring cream, whisked to soft peaks
2 tbsp   Pedro Ximénez
3   egg yolks
55 gm (¼ cup)   caster sugar
Pedro Ximénez-spiced sour cherries
125 ml (½ cup)   Pedro Ximénez
1 tbsp   golden caster sugar
1   whole star anise
1   piece of orange peel, removed with a peeler
100 gm (½ cup)   dried sour cherries (see note)


1 For cherries, combine Pedro Ximénez, caster sugar, star anise and orange peel in a saucepan over medium heat, bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Add cherries, increase heat to medium, return to the boil, then remove from heat and cool.
2 Heat chocolate, cream and Pedro Ximénez in a heatproof bowl placed over gently boiling water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.
3 Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a separate heatproof bowl placed over gently simmering water for 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Combine chocolate and egg yolk mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on high for 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and cool.
4 Divide half the cherries between six ½ cup-capacity ramekins, spoon over chocolate mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Serve chocolate pots topped with remaining cherries and a glass of Pedro Ximénez.

Note Dried sour cherries are available from The Essential Ingredient and health food stores.

WORDS Max Allen RECIPE Adelaide Lucas PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Chen STYLING Michele Finato


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