Molten in Its Box, Finished With Passion Fruit and Honey
I will tell you a secret about baked camembert. The oven does nearly all the work, and it is still the dish people talk about on the drive home.
One round of cheese in a little wooden box. A knife, a clove of garlic, a few sprigs of thyme. Twenty minutes in the oven. Then you carry it to the table still bubbling, peel back the top, and everybody leans in at the same moment with a piece of bread. Nobody stands on ceremony around a baked camembert, and that is exactly why I love it.
The box has its own story. Camembert comes from Normandy, and around 1890 an engineer there named Ridel came up with the round box of thin poplar wood, so that a soft, delicate cheese could travel long distances, as far as America, without being crushed. More than a century later, that same box turns out to be the perfect baking dish. The cheese melts inside it and the wood holds it all together.
What I add is the island. Back home in Guadeloupe we call passion fruit maracudja, and its sharp, perfumed juice goes into everything from punch to sorbet. So when the cheese comes out of the oven, molten and full of garlic, I spoon over my Exotic Caribbean Sauce stirred with a little honey. The passion fruit cuts straight through all that cream. The honey makes it shine. And the chilli in that jar is so gentle that the grandparents and the children can dip in with everybody else.
For the ones who want fire, there is a trick for that further down: they get their own corner.
Let me show you how I make it.
Recipe at a glance
- Cuisine: Caribbean fusion (a French cheese with an island finish)
- Prep: 10 minutes • Cook: 20 minutes • Total: 30 minutes
- Serves: 4 as a sharing starter (or 2 as a supper with a green salad)
- Featured sauce: Exotic Caribbean Sauce
- Heat level: 3/10, fruity first, with a gentle warmth behind it
- Diet: vegetarian only if your camembert is made with a non-animal rennet (check the pack, because many are not); contains milk
What you’ll need
Buy a whole camembert, about 250g, in a round wooden box. Look at the box before you buy: you want thin wood held together with small staples. If it is glued or made of cardboard, a small ovenproof dish just wider than the cheese does the same job.
A riper camembert, soft when you press the middle, tastes deeper and earthier. A younger one is milder. Both melt beautifully.
The Exotic Caribbean Sauce goes on at the very end, stirred into the honey. Shake the jar well first.
One plain note before you shop. Camembert is made from cow’s milk and baguette is made with wheat. Check the label on the jar of sauce for allergens, and read every pack you buy.
For the camembert
- 1 whole camembert in a wooden box (about 250g)
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and cut into thin slivers
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme (two for the cheese, two to finish)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the passion fruit and honey topping
- 2 tbsp Exotic Caribbean Sauce, shaken well
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- A small pinch of flaky sea salt
For dipping
- 1 baguette, cut on the diagonal into 1cm slices
- 2 tbsp olive oil, for the toasts
- A handful of crunchy crudités, such as carrot and celery sticks, radishes and chicory leaves
You will also need two baking trays and some baking paper.
How I make it
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Heat the oven. Set it to 200°C (180°C fan), gas 6, and line a small baking tray with baking paper. On Christmas Day I bake it while the turkey rests, when the oven is hot and suddenly free.
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Unwrap it completely. Lift the cheese out of its box and take off every piece of plastic and paper it came in. Anything that is not cheese or wood comes off.
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Check the box. If the box is thin wood held together with staples, put the lid aside, sit the cheese back in the base and set it on the lined tray. If the box is glued, made of cardboard, or you are not sure, use a small ovenproof dish instead. If the wood looks loose, tie kitchen string around the outside.
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Score the top. With a small sharp knife, cut a criss-cross pattern across the top, the lines about 2cm apart. Go through the rind, but never down to the base, or the cheese runs out underneath.
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Stud it with garlic and thyme. Push the garlic slivers into the cuts. Break two thyme sprigs into small tufts and push those in too. Drizzle over the teaspoon of olive oil and grind over some black pepper.
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Bake it. Into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Start checking at 15. Straight from the fridge, it usually needs the full 20.
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Toast the bread. Lay the baguette slices on the second tray, brush them with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and slide them in for the last 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp at the edges. Watch them, because thin toasts darken fast.
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Mix the topping. In a small bowl, stir the Exotic Caribbean Sauce and the honey together until smooth and loose. If your honey is the set kind, warm it for a few seconds first.
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Check the middle. Push the tip of a knife into the centre through one of the cuts. It should be completely runny and steaming, with no firm core. If it is still set, give it another 3 to 5 minutes and check again. Do not skip this, especially if anyone at the table is pregnant.
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Finish and serve straight away. Lift the tray out with oven gloves. Spoon the passion fruit honey over the top so it runs into the cuts, then scatter over the leaves from the last two thyme sprigs and a pinch of flaky salt. Set it on a board with the toasts and crudités around it, and warn everyone the box is very hot. Peel back the top and start dipping.
How long to bake camembert
The question everybody asks in December, answered for a standard 250g camembert. Treat the times as a guide and the check in step 9 as the rule.
- Oven: 200°C (180°C fan), gas 6, for 15 to 20 minutes. Straight from the fridge, plan on the full 20.
- Air fryer: 180°C for 10 to 12 minutes, in a small ovenproof dish that fits your basket. Air fryers vary a lot, so start checking at 8 minutes.
- How you know it is ready: the top looks puffed and gives when you press it gently, and the middle is completely liquid and steaming when you push a knife through one of the cuts.
- Too long: far past the molten stage, the rind splits and the cheese leaks out of the box. For 250g, 20 minutes is nearly always plenty.
Baked camembert in the box: the rules I keep
Baking the cheese in its own box means it goes from oven to table in one piece, with no dish to wash. But the box has to be the right kind.
Every scrap of wrapping comes off. Plastic film, waxed paper, paper labels. If it is not cheese or wood, it does not go in the oven.
Wood and staples, yes. Glue or cardboard, no. A thin wooden box held together with staples keeps its shape in the oven. Glue can come apart in the heat, and cardboard is not made for the oven at all. When in doubt, use an ovenproof dish.
Lid off, tray underneath. I bake it open so I can see what is happening. Even a good box can leak a little at the seams, and a lined tray catches it.
What to dip in baked camembert
Put out three or four of these and let people choose.
Crusty bread and toasted baguette. The classic. Torn bread soaks up the cheese, and toasted baguette gives you crunch against all that softness.
Crudités. Chicory leaves are the best scoop I know, slightly bitter against the sweet passion fruit honey. Carrot, celery and radishes keep a starter light before a big Christmas dinner.
Roast potatoes. Leftover roast potatoes, crisped up again in a hot oven until they are piping hot, then dipped into molten cheese. This is the one that disappears first in my house.
Pigs in blankets. If you are making my pigs in blankets, keep a few back for the board. Sticky pork and melted cheese is Christmas in two bites. Many chipolatas contain wheat rusk and sulphites, so check the packs.
Fried plantain. The one that tastes of home to me. Bananes pesées are green plantain, fried, pressed flat and fried again, so you get a crisp, salty edge to drag through the soft cheese, with the passion fruit cutting through. My fried plantain recipe shows you how to get them right, and if plantain is new to you, start with what plantain actually is.
Honey roast parsnips. My honey roast parsnips are cut into long batons before they roast, and with their hot honey glaze they are some of the best dippers on the board.
Breadsticks and crackers. For a drinks party, when people want to dip with one hand and hold a glass in the other.
The role of Exotic Caribbean Sauce in this dish
Molten camembert is rich. Gorgeous, but rich, and after a few dips your mouth starts asking for something sharp. That is the gap my Exotic Caribbean Sauce fills.
Read the label and you will see it is mostly onion, with passion fruit juice, oil, chilli, vinegar, salt and white pepper. The passion fruit and vinegar bring the acid, and acid is what cheese needs. It cuts through the cream, so the fifth dip tastes as good as the first. The onion gives it savoury body, so the topping never tips into pudding. And the chilli is only a whisper, a little warmth after the fruit has gone.
The honey turns it glossy, so it clings to the cheese instead of running off into the box.
The British already know this idea. Cranberry sauce with brie, chutney with Cheddar: fruit and acid against rich cheese. Passion fruit is the island’s way of doing the same job. If you would rather have cranberry, my cranberry sauce recipe has a spoonful of the same passion fruit sauce stirred through it, and a little of it, warm, is just as good over this camembert.
The topping goes on at the end, not before baking, so the passion fruit stays bright and the honey cannot catch in the oven.
Allergens, and a word for anyone pregnant
Milk. Camembert is a cow’s milk cheese, so this dish is not suitable for anyone with a milk allergy.
The sauce and the dippers. Check the label on the jar of Exotic Caribbean Sauce for allergens. Baguette, breadsticks and most crackers are made with wheat. If you put out pigs in blankets, read the sausage pack too.
Vegetarian guests. Traditional camembert, including Camembert de Normandie, is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian. For vegetarian guests, choose a camembert-style cheese labelled as suitable for vegetarians.
Pregnancy. The NHS lists mould-ripened soft cheeses with a white rind, such as brie and camembert, among the foods to be careful with in pregnancy, pasteurised or unpasteurised, because soft ripened cheeses can carry listeria. The advice is that they must be thoroughly cooked, and that any cheese cooked until steaming hot is fine. So if a guest is pregnant, the check in step 9 is not optional: the very centre must be steaming hot, not just soft and warm. If you are not sure, give it a few minutes more and serve it the moment it comes out. Any questions, ask your midwife.
Tips from my kitchen
Make it hotter, but only in one corner. Shake a few drops of my Caribbean Hot Sauce over one side of the cheese after the topping goes on. The heat-lovers dip on that side, everybody else dips on the other, and nobody has to negotiate.
Prepare it in the morning. Unwrap, score and stud the cheese, then cover it and keep it in the fridge with the topping mixed in a covered bowl beside it. When your guests arrive, it goes straight into the oven for the full 20 minutes. Take the topping out of the fridge at the same time, because honey thickens in the cold.
Swap the honey for hot honey. If you made a jar of my hot honey, use a tablespoon in place of the plain honey for a slow scotch bonnet burn under the passion fruit.
Feeding eight. Bake two camemberts side by side on the same tray. They take about the same time, but check the middle of each one before serving. Two boxes on one board also means two dipping stations, and fewer elbows.
What to serve it with
As a Christmas starter, one camembert feeds four with plenty of crudités alongside the bread. The point of a starter on Christmas Day is to get people to the table happy, not full before the turkey arrives.
If you want a second, fresher plate next to it, my exotic mango crunch salad uses the same sauce and takes 15 minutes, and cold mango is a beautiful contrast to hot cheese.
For a drinks party, put the camembert in the middle of the table with the pigs in blankets, a bowl of fried plantain and the toasts, and let people help themselves.
And for the glass: in December I pour sorrel, the deep red Christmas drink of the Caribbean, or a rum punch for the grown-ups. If you are curious what our island table looks like at this time of year, I wrote about Christmas in the Caribbean.
FAQ
How long do you bake camembert for?
For a standard 250g camembert, 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C (180°C fan), gas 6. Straight from the fridge it usually needs the full 20. In an air fryer, 10 to 12 minutes at 180°C in a small ovenproof dish, checking from 8 minutes. It is ready when the middle is completely runny and steaming.
Can you bake camembert in its box?
Yes, if the box is wood held together with staples and every bit of plastic and paper is off. A glued box can come apart in the heat and cardboard should not go in the oven, so use a small ovenproof dish instead. Always put a lined tray underneath.
What do you dip in baked camembert?
Crusty bread and toasted baguette are the classics. I also put out crudités, especially chicory leaves, plus leftover roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, roast parsnips and fried plantain. Breadsticks and crackers work well for a drinks party.
Can you eat baked camembert when pregnant?
The NHS says mould-ripened soft cheeses like camembert must be thoroughly cooked in pregnancy, and that cheese cooked until steaming hot is fine. So it has to be steaming hot right through to the centre, not just soft. Check the middle with a knife before serving, and if you have any doubts, ask your midwife.
Can I prepare baked camembert ahead?
Yes. Score and stud it in the morning, cover it and keep it in the fridge, then bake it for the full 20 minutes when your guests arrive.
Final word from me
Baked camembert is not a clever dish. It is a round of cheese, a hot oven, and the patience to wait twenty minutes. But it brings people to the table faster than anything else I know, and on Christmas Day that is half the work done.
So unwrap it properly, check the box, bake it until the middle steams, and finish it with a little passion fruit and honey. Then put it down, step back, and watch everybody lean in at once.
Joyeux Noël. Come and cook with me.
JP
