The Fanciest (and Easiest) Cheeseboard

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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