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Home » Lovely Ideas » The Fanciest (and Easiest) Cheeseboard

The Fanciest (and Easiest) Cheeseboard

Published: Jan 4, 2024 by Genevieve Morrison · This post may contain affiliate links

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Cheese on a board, topped with marmalade, surrounded by crackrs and mint.

This fancy cheese board is so easy to prepare and assemble with no complicated ingredient arranging! Everything is placed in one row, garnished with mint, tiny flowers, and sprinkled with nuts and chocolate.

It’s a gorgeous, delicious, show-stopping, deceptively simple addition to any event where you want to REALLY impress your guests!

Cheese on a board, topped with marmalade, surrounded by crackrs and mint.
Contents hide
1 The Simple Process
2 The Cheese I Chose
3 How to Create This Cheeseboard – Step by Step
4 Slice the Hard Cheeses
5 Assemble the Board
6 To Make a More Savory Board
7 A Few More Elegant Appetizer Ideas
8 The Fanciest Cheese Board

I love creating ornate appetizers for parties, but I’ve always found round or square cheeseboards to be a bit complicated. I have to futz and futz, move things around, organize and reorganize until I’m happy with what I’ve done.

With this style board, I don’t even have to think about how to artfully arrange things; just one line, everything in a row, a few mint leaves here, a few flowers there, and she’s done!

A fancy cheese board with 4 cheeses, crackers, berries, grapes and meat roses.

The charcuterie platter that I used is 40-inches long. It was a little tricky to fit the whole thing in the picture! It looked so elegant all by itself on my dining table for my New Year’s Eve party! The thinness of the board also made it easy for guests to place their drinks on the table.

To make things extra easy for myself, I make the charcuterie roses and simple topping for the brie ahead of time. I also slice the cheeses and pop them in containers, so 10 minutes before the party, I just take everything out, line it up, garnish, and swoon.

Meat roses on the end of a cheese board with mint and crackers.

And the best part is that, for a cocktail party of 10-12 people, you don’t need much more on the menu! I had a simple hummus bowl and veggie plate over by the punch, and this was more than enough for my guests to snack on all night!

Because it’s likely that you don’t have a refrigerator big enough to fit the whole board, and I’m sure you may not want to prepare the entire thing just before guests arrive, I’ll show you how to prep everything a whole day ahead of time, then simply assemble everything in just 10 minutes before your party!

An ornate cheese board with meat roses, 2 cheeses, crackers and grapes.

The Simple Process

First, we’ll create charcuterie roses and a simple topping for the brie.

Then, we’ll slice some of the cheeses.

Next, we’ll place the roses and cheese evenly spaced on the board. We’ll add crackers on each side of the cheeses, along with a section for grapes and blackberries.

Finally, we’ll top the brie with chopped apricots and walnuts, top the other soft cheese with marmalade, add sprigs of mint and small flowers where we think it looks pretty, and add nuts and chocolate anywhere we think they will fit.

Chopped apricots, walnuts and thyme with honey on top of brie on a cheeseboard.

The Cheese I Chose

I used a semi-creamy brie, a very creamy triple cream, a sliced Swiss, and aged gouda, but you can really use any cheeses you want! As a general rule, you’ll just want to use different textures of cheese for variety.

I used a hard cheese that can be chopped to easily snack on, a semi-hard cheese that can be sliced into cracker-size slices, a very creamy cheese that won’t be cut ahead of time (it’s too creamy), and a pre-sliced brie.

Pre-slicing almost all of the cheeses helps to keep the board prettier and easier to “operate” while folks are snacking.

4 cheeses on a cheese board with titles describing what they are.

How to Create This Cheeseboard – Step by Step

Make the Charcuterie Roses

To make different size roses, use 2 different size glasses. I used a glass that was 2½ inches wide and another that was about 1½ inches wide, but you can simply use a wine glass and a champagne glass

I also used 4 different kinds of deli meats that all came in the same package: a calabrese, soppressata, peppered salami, and prosciutto. The calabrese was the largest size, and the soppressata and peppered salami were smaller.

The prosciutto came separated with plastic sheets, which is important. If the slices aren’t separated with wax paper or a thin sheet of plastic, they’ll be tricky to make into roses.

4 numbered images showing how to make different kinds of meat roses.

1. To make the biggest rose, I used calabrese. I used about 10 slices. I started by folding each slice over the edges of my larger glass.

2. To get a perfect rose, overlap each slice as you wrap them over the edge.

3. Once done, turn the glass over, and remove the rose. Set it aside.

4. Use a smaller glass to make the pepper salami and soppressata roses. I used about 10-12 slices of each. Set them aside.

4 numbered images showing how to make meat roses.

5. To make prosciutto roses, use kitchen scissors to cut a slice of prosciutto in half (Don’t remove the plastic separating it from other slices – it makes it easier to cut).

6. Once the slice is cut in half, fold the 2 slices in half.

7. Roll each slice into a rose (this isn’t peppered salami in the photo, it just had some pepper that was left on the cutting board from the salami). Repeat with at least 4-5 more slices.

8. If you’re making this board ahead of time, place all of your roses in a container with a lid and refrigerate.

Prepare the Brie

The brie comes with an elegant, honied, chopped apricot, walnut, and thyme topping that takes 3 minutes to make!

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to slice cheese and make a nut and apricot topping.

1. Use a knife that’s longer than the width of your brie to easily slice the cheese in a perfect X, then continue to slice the pieces in half, and so on.

2. Slicing this way makes it easier to ensure your pieces are perfectly sized.

3. To make the topping, chop ¼ cup walnuts and about 2-4 dried apricots into tiny pieces.

4. Add about ¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves. Place in a container with a lid, and refrigerate if making ahead. (You’ll add a drizzle of honey just before serving).

Slice the Hard Cheeses

3 numbered images showing how to slice and chop cheese.

1. Chop the aged gouda into small bite-size pieces. Set aside.

2. Slice the Swiss into slices that will be nicely sized for a cracker. Not to thick, not too thin.

3. Place them in a container with a lid and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Assemble the Board

Now for the fun part! As mentioned above, I used this 40-inch charcuterie board. I garnished as I went along with mint, flowers, nuts, and chocolate, but you may find it easier to place all of the cheese, crackers, grapes, berries, and roses first, then garnish all together with mint and the other accouterments.

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to add meat roses and 3 cheeses to a cheese board.

1. First, add the roses on the edge of the left side of the board. Place the 3 larger roses in the center, then add the little garden of prosciutto roses around them.

2. Place the pre-sliced brie a few inches from the roses.

3. Place the sliced Swiss a few inches from the brie, making sure the slices don’t fall over.

4. Place the triple cream a few inches from the Swiss.

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to add cheese and grapes to a cheeseboard.

5. Place the chopped gouda on the right edge of the board. Just make sure the cheeses and roses are equally spaced out on the board.

6. Place 4-7 crackers on each side of the cheeses and roses, then fill in the space to the left of the gouda with blackberries. Garnish with a few leaves of mint and optional English daisies.

7. Place about 1½ tablespoons of marmalade on the triple cream. Garnish with flowers and mint around the edges, and sprinkle a few nuts and chocolate-covered cashews where space is available.

8. Place a small bunch of grapes in the space between the triple cream and sliced Swiss.

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to add cheese and meat to a cheese board.

9. Simply continue to add leaves of mint and flowers where they look pretty, and sprinkle nuts where there is enough space.

10. Add about a teaspoon of honey to your container of chopped walnuts, apricots, and thyme. Give it a gentle stir.

11. Spoon the topping onto the brie in the center. Continue to add mint, flowers, and chocolate.

12. Add mint leaves all around the edges of the roses, and a few in between to make it look like a pretty little garden.

To Make a More Savory Board

If you want to make the board less sweet, you can replace the marmalade or apricot-walnut topping with:

  • stone ground mustard
  • olive tapenade
  • mustard caviar
  • caramelized shallots
  • mushroom pâté
  • seared tomatoes and roasted garlic 
  • chopped walnuts with bacon 
  • roasted garlic and herbs
An ornate cheeseboard with 2 cheeses, berries, grapes, crackers and flowers.

For more inspiration, subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Instagram, on Pinterest, tiktok, and Facebook! And if you ever make any of my tasty drinks or treats, take a picture and tag me. I want to see!

A Few More Elegant Appetizer Ideas

  • Antipasti skewers garnished with flowers and rosemary stacked on a plate.
    Mini Antipasto Skewers
  • About 20 apricot appetizers on a plate, garnished with thyme.
    Elegant Apricot and Goat Cheese Appetizers
  • A long plate of melon bamboo skewers on a table beside daffodils in glass vases..
    Prosciutto and Melon Skewers 
  • 6 pesto zucchini rosettes on a wooden board.
    Pesto Zucchini Rosettes
Cheese on a board, topped with marmalade, surrounded by crackrs and mint.

The Fanciest Cheese Board

This fancy cheese board is so easy to prepare and assemble with no complicated ingredient arranging!
5 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: International
Diet: Kosher
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes
Assembly Time: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 people
Calories: 369kcal
Author: Genevieve Morrison

Equipment

  • 1 wine glass
  • 1 champagne glass
  • 1 cutting board and sharp knife
  • 1 pair kitchen scissors
  • 1 40-inch cheese board

Ingredients

  • 7 oz. brie – or any semi-soft cheese
  • 6 oz. triple cream – or any very soft cheese
  • 7 oz. Swiss – or any medium hard cheese
  • 7 oz. aged gouda – or any hard cheese
  • 10 slices calabrese – large size
  • 10 slices soppressata – medium or small size
  • 10 slices peppered salami – medium or small size
  • 5 slices prosciutto – separated by wax paper or plastic sheets
  • 1½ tbsp. marmalade
  • 40 crackers – I used a mix of La Panzanella and Vinta brand crackers
  • 1 small bunch grapes
  • ¼ cup walnuts
  • 4 dried apricots
  • ¼ tsp. fresh thyme
  • 6 oz. blackberries
  • 1 medium bunch mint
  • ½ cup snack mix – I used Sahale Snacks Sea Salt Bean + Nut Snack Mix
  • ½ cup chocolate covered cashews – or any chocolate covered nut
  • honey – a small drizzle
  • a few English daisies – optional

Instructions

For the Charcuterie Roses

  • Start with 2 different size glasses. A wine glass and champagne glass are perfect. Fold 10 slices of calabrese over the edges of the larger glass to make your biggest rose. To get a perfect rose, overlap each slice as you wrap them over the edge. Once done, turn the glass over, and remove the rose. Set it aside.
  • Use the smaller glass to make the pepper salami and soppressata roses. I used about 10-12 slices of each. Set them aside.
  • To make prosciutto roses, use kitchen scissors to cut a slice of prosciutto in half (don't remove the plastic separating it from other slices – it makes it easier to cut). Once sliced in half, fold the 2 slices in half. Roll each slice into a rose. Repeat with at least 4-5 more slices.
  • If you're making this board ahead of time, place all of your roses in a container with a lid and refrigerate.

For the Brie

  • Use a knife that's longer than the width of your brie to easily slice the cheese in a perfect X, then continue to slice the pieces in half, and so on. Slicing this way makes it easier to ensure your pieces are perfectly sized.
  • To make the topping, chop ¼ cup walnuts and about 2-4 dried apricots into tiny pieces. Add about ¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves. Place in a container with a lid, and refrigerate if making ahead. (You'll add a drizzle of honey just before serving).

For the Hard Cheeses

  • Chop the aged gouda into small bite-size pieces. Set aside. Slice the Swiss into slices that will be nicely sized for a cracker. Not to thick, not too thin. Place them in a container with a lid and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

For the Board Assembly

  • First, add the roses on the edge of the left side of the board. Place the 3 larger roses in the center, then add the little garden of prosciutto roses around them. Place the sliced brie a few inches from the roses. Place the sliced Swiss a few inches from the brie, making sure the slices don't fall over. Place the triple cream a few inches from the Swiss.
  • Place the chopped gouda on the right edge of the board. Just make sure the cheeses and roses are equally spaced out.
  • Place 4-8 crackers on each side of the cheeses and roses, then fill in the space to the left of the gouda with blackberries. 
  • Place about 1½ tablespoons of marmalade on the triple cream. 
  • Place a small bunch of grapes in the space between the triple cream and sliced Swiss. 
  • Garnish mint around the edges, and sprinkle snack mix and chocolate-covered cashews where space is available along the edges. Optionally garnish with English daisies.

Notes

If you want to make the board less sweet, you can replace the marmalade or apricot-walnut topping with:
  • stone ground mustard
  • olive tapenade
  • mustard caviar
  • caramelized shallots
  • mushroom pâté
  • seared tomatoes and roasted garlic 
  • chopped walnuts with bacon 
  • roasted garlic and herbs
 
See post for detailed instructions with photos of the process.
Nutrition information is an estimate.

Nutrition

Serving: 4oz. | Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 1004mg | Potassium: 263mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1379IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 280mg | Iron: 1mg
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judith Hume

    January 17, 2025 at 7:40 am

    These are works of art! Thank you for the detailed instructions, too! BEAUTIFUL!

    Reply
    • Genevieve Morrison

      January 17, 2025 at 5:14 pm

      Thank you, Judith!

      Reply
  2. Trudy

    August 10, 2024 at 5:32 pm

    I really appreciate your detailed how to with very specific ingredients. Will try to replicate for my next party. Thanks so much for posting this!

    Reply
    • Genevieve Morrison

      August 12, 2024 at 7:36 pm

      Aww, thank you Trudy!

      Reply
  3. Cynthia

    April 07, 2024 at 1:41 am

    Very well presented ! …Thank you for sharing

    Reply
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