For Weddings and Celebration Dinners

As my friends and family will know, and regular readers of Lavender and Lovage too, I am a cheese addict! I love the stuff and have been known to over indulge at certain times of the year……..I have posted cheese board ideas here over the years too, with all kinds of ideas and recipes for cheese accompaniments, but my latest cheesy obsession has been for the spectacular towers of cheese that are often served at weddings nowadays, and so enter my latest creation for Summer French Cheese Cake Tower. The cheese cake tower, also called a cheese wheel  or a tiered cheese cake is a brilliant idea, and I don’t know why I didn’t come up with the idea a long time ago, being a “cheeseaholic”, I feel I may have missed out on many years of towering cheesiness!

So, after attending a wedding last year in France where one of these Cheese Cake Towers was served, albeit not decorated, and after many hours perusing Pinterest and the web, I decide to break out of my boring cheese board serving habits and make one for a recent celebratory meal, as why should the bride and groom have all the cheesy pleasure?! Today I am sharing my FIRST cheese cake tower creation, as I plan to do three more to closely follow the seasons. Today’s cheese cake tower is made from French cheeses, and is a summer cheese cake tower, insofar as I have used herbs and flowers from my summer garden.  I decided on a pastel theme of pink, green, mauve and yellow, and I think you’ll agree my cheese cake looks very summery and as pretty as a picture.

Today’s recipe for my Summer French Cheese Cake Tower would be perfect for a summer wedding, as well as any family get-together or celebratory meal….and, the cheese cake has been made TWICE now at Chez Lavender and Lovage, as my lovely friend Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen also made one when she was on holiday here last week, for a BBQ I was hosting! Janice also decorated her cheese cake tower with freshly picked herbs and flowers from my garden, and her creation was just gorgeous, with the guests really “ooooohing and aaaaaahing” over it. You can read all about Janice’s stay with us in the Charente Maritime here: French Cheese Cake in the Charente Maritime, as well as see how pretty her cheese cake tower was too, and I’ve also shared a photo below of the cheese tower after being served and cut.

The main principals for making a cheese cake tower as follows:

1. Choose at least 4 cheeses to give the tower height.
2. Try to choose a cow’s milk cheese, goat’s milk cheese, hard cheese, soft cheese and a blue cheese to make your cheese cake, to give your guests lots of variety and choice.
3. The cheeses must be big enough to stand the next cheese on comfortably in the tower, with a ledge/rim of at least 2″ (5cms) to 3″ (8cms) around the edge, so it is easy for your guests to cut the cheese in the tower.
4. Make sure you serve the cheeses at room temperature, but if it is very hot, then make sure the cheese cake tower is stored in a cool place before serving.
5. Allow about 40zs (100g) of cheese per person, and make sure there is plenty of bread and crackers close by.
6. As well as herbs and flowers, fruit and nuts are also a great way to decorate the cheese cake tower.
7. Chutney and relishes will go well with this cheesy creation, so try to make sure you have some of them on offer, next to the bread and crackers.

I hope that my recipe today, which is shared below, will inspire you to make your own cheese cake tower this summer. My cheese cake tower was made with: Brie for the bottom layer, Saint Nectaire, Tomme, Bresse Bleu and then a little Crottin Chèvre for the top layer. These are JUST suggestions of course, but it made for a very well balanced cheese cake tower with a variety of different textures, tastes and strengths. Don’t forget do pop back later to see my next seasonal cheese creation, and have fun if you make this, and please do let me know too! Karen 

Summer French Cheese Cake Tower

Print recipe

• Print with main photo
• Print text only

Serves	16 to 20
Prep time	30 minutes
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert, Side Dish
Misc	Gourmet, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Barbecue, Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Formal Party, Thanksgiving, Valentines day
Region	French
By author	Karen Burns-Booth

Summer French Cheese Cake Tower - a spectacular tower of French cheeses, this tiered cheese tower is perfect for any summer wedding or celebration dinners.

Ingredients

• 1 x whole Brie cheese
• 1 x whole Saint Nectaire cheese
• 1 x whole Tomme cheese
• 1 x whole Bresse Bleu cheese
• 1 x small Crottin goat's cheese
• small pink rose buds and flowers (plus one larger rose for the top)
• fennel flowers
• lavender flowers
• rosemary leaves

Note

Summer French Cheese Cake Tower - a spectacular tower of French cheeses, this tiered cheese tower is perfect for any summer wedding or celebration dinners.

Directions

Step 1	Place the wheel of Brie onto a wooden board or large platter that is suitable for cutting cheese.
Step 2	Sit the Saint Nectaire cheese on top of the brie, followed by the Tomme, Bresse Bleu and finally the small Crottin goat's cheese on top.
Step 3	Starting at the bottom, push the fennel flowers and buds in and around the base of the Saint Nectaire cheese, making sure they are pushed in all the way around.
Step 4	Between the Tomme cheese and the Saint Nectaire cheese, do the same with the lavender flowers; arrange the rosemary leaves in and around the base of the Bresse Bleu which is next and finally push the tiny pink roses and rose buds around the base of the Crottin goat's cheese.
Step 5	Place the larger pink rose on top of the Crottin cheese and place any posies of the same flowers and herbs around the base of the cheese cake tower if you have any to hand.
Step 6	NB: This is a Summer French Cheese Cake Tower using hand picked herbs and flowers that I had in my garden at the time, but, you can use any seasonal flowers and herbs you have available, wherever you live, and you can also match the colours to any wedding bouquets or celebratory table settings.

Other Cheese Cake Tower and Wheel Recipes:

A Cake made of Cheese

Image: FoodieQuine

How to build a tiered cheese wheel ‘cake’

Image: Simple Bites

DIY Perfect Cheese Wheel Wedding Cake

Image: Green Bride Guide

Lavender and Lovage Summer French Cheese Cake Tower