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Wildly impressive and deceptively simple, hot honey baked camembert in a bread bowl is a versatile starter, canapé or finger food for any elegant event. First choose a sturdy bread bowl, dig out a snug for the camembert, subtly flavour with fruity sherry, slivers of garlic and delicate thyme leaves and bake until the bowl resembles a bubbling cauldron of oozing cheese. Drizzle with chili-infused honey and serve with crunchy crackers. Chef’s kiss!

Dips feature heavily at my parties, and I have loads of recipes for both hot and cold. If one cheese dip just isn’t enough, include this hot cheesy cranberry and chorizo dip or whipped feta and ricotta with pistachio and mint for a cool alternative.

Top down shot of someone dipping bread in baked camembert

Baked camembert bread bowl

I’ve used a whole wheel of camembert in this recipe. They are the perfect size and shape to fit into a bread bowl. You could use brie, but I prefer camembert for its earthy taste and lower fat content.

I find brie very buttery and the greater milk fat content means it doesn’t hold its shape as well as camembert when cooked to melting.

The best bread for the task is a boule, meaning ‘ball’ in French. The shape is, well, ball-shaped, and easy to excavate deeply to insert the cheese, and it has a solid crust.

This means there’s no risk of the melted cheese finding its way out the bottom or sides. You can choose a sourdough or French variety boule. Sourdough is tight and dense, whereas French has a more open crumb and is therefore lighter.

Up the impression even further by making your own sourdough boule!

Hot honey

To be clear, when I say ‘hot’ honey, I mean chili-infused rather than temperature. If you’ve not tried it, you are in for a sweet (and spicy) treat! Imagine the syrupy-sweetness of honey and the fire of chili flakes in a pourable sauce.

Honey really brings out the best in cheese, try it drizzled over cheese on toast or baked mac’n’cheese. It can also be used to compliment ‘nduja (working best as a pizza topping), poured over your morning bacon and eggs, to pep up your standard salad dressing, mixed it into a cocktail for an added kick, even over ice cream.

So how do you make this wonder sauce? Well, it starts with honey. Use liquid, or clear honey, rather than set honey. Choose one that is between amber and light caramel and has a runny consistency.

Lots of honeys are flavoured, thanks to clever bees pollinating, i.e. orange blossom honey, eucalyptus or acacia. But I’d stick to regular wildflower, or clover, unless you’re feeling especially daring!

Top down shot of baked camembert in a bread bowl

Recipe Tips and Notes

Hot honey can be store bought, or you can quickly and very easily make your own if you have the honey, chilli flakes and apple cider vinegar in your stores. Details on the method are below.
Hot honey is an instant elevator, so having some in the kitchen over the holidays to impress guests with, is a helpful trick up the sleeve.
If you want to add an extra layer of wow! to your baked camembert on top of the hot honey, nuts are a popular favourite this time of year. Walnuts, pecans and pistachios all provide texture and glamour.
Or even pomegranate seeds for a festive red vibe. Extra Christmas spirit if served with emerald pistachios too.
I’ve used thyme leaves on my cheese, but fresh rosemary is lovely and piney too. Just don’t use dried- that’s too woody.
A smallish boule is sufficient to cradle the camembert. Anything too big is a bit wasteful and will lessen the visual cauldron effect.
Toasted bread sticks or crouton-y cubes are standard dippers. But get creative with bougie crackers, I’m thinking beetroot or charcoal, or calorie-conscious crudité.

Serving suggestions

I absolutely love putting together a canapé selection. The artist in me (severely repressed by the way) enjoys making things look beautiful and the cook in me thrives on making things delicious. I pride myself on a party spread, and here is a collection of my finest (even if I do say so myself!):

Storage and leftovers

The oozy, melty baked camembert with honey is in its prime fresh from the oven. Serve it and finish it! The cheese, at least. Previously melted soft cheeses gone cold tend to have lost their fat content (it melts away) and go flat.

The bread bowl however… this part can live on in a purposeful life as croutons, stuffing, or breadcrumbs for topping savoury dishes like baked macaroni cheese or spatchcock roast chicken. Do not let it go to waste!

baked camembert in a bread bowl next to toasted bread slices

More side dishes to try

Hot Honey Baked Camembert in Bread Bowl

By Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Prep: 10

Cook: 15

Total: 25

Servings: people

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Wildly impressive and deceptively simple, hot honey baked camembert in a bread bowl is a versatile starter or canapé for any elegant event.

Ingredients

▢ 2 tbsp hot honey, see notes for recipe
▢ 1 (450g / 1 lbs) sourdough boule, or french boule
▢ 1 (250g / 8 oz) camembert cheese
▢ 1/2 clove garlic, sliced
▢ 1 tbsp dry sherry, or dry white wine
▢ 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

Instructions

If making your own hot honey, prepare it first (instructions in notes) and set aside. Then move to the next step.
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Place the wrapped camembert wheel on top of your bread and trace the outline of it with a sharp knife. Then remove the cheese and carve out a hollow to fit the cheese wheel in its entirety.
Now prepare the cheese. Slice the garlic clove thinly and take the thyme leaves off their stalks. Unwrap the camembert and cut the top rind off to expose the soft cheese, then make slits in the cheese flesh with the tip of a knife and insert the garlic slices into them.
Sprinkle the thyme leaves all over and top with the dry sherry and drizzle 1 tbsp of hot honey. Insert the camembert inside the hollowed out bread bowl and place in a baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until the cheese is completely melted but is not spilling over (do not let it get to that point).
Drizzle with the remaining hot honey and serve with toasted sourdough bread and crackers. Serve with additional hot honey if desired.

Video

Notes

You can use store bought hot honey or make your own, which takes about 5 minutes of active time.
Mix 1 cup/350g of honey with 3 tbsp of dried chilli flakes and bring to a slight simmer in a saucepan. As soon as you see small bubbles around the edges of honey, take it off the heat. Do not let honey boil!
Let the honey infuse with the chilli flakes for 15 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve and mix in 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Store in a clean glass jar.