Personally, I prefer Stilton, and a glass of aged Port. There’s a Canadian cheddar I used to be able to get, until they stopped exporting it to the US—it was very sharp, and one of the best cheddars I’ve had. Vermont’s Grafton, four year aged is also very nice, but hard to get.
The reason why these cheeses are paired with sweet items is because they balance the sweetness with tanginess. You don’t melt cheddar in your apple pie, you eat it with the apple pie. Similarly with brie—it accompanies fruits, but is not melted on them or in them. You don’t mix it with sugar, you use it to offset sweet things.
It may be a mild cheese, but compared to the other cheeses I mentioned, it is much stronger. And if it is a bit too old, it quickly gets quite amoniac. It’s not the flavor I’d want on my carrot cake, thank you very much. You’d better eat the entire cake on the day you make it, if you frost it with brie.
But go try it for yourself. Brie carrot cake. Mmmmm. Let me know what you think. Be honest.
My daughter tried her hand at baking a cake today. She made a fudge cake, and frosted it and decorated it, and we had it for dessert, and all of us thought it was very good, except her. She was expecting something dense, like a flourless torte, and when she got cake, she was a bit taken aback. Anyway, if this is the kind of mistake she’ll be making, I’m quite looking forward to her other adventures in bakedom!