How to Create the Perfect Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

It’s time to Up your Entertaining Game and create a fabulous Chocolate fondue charcuterie Board

Why do we love charcuterie boards so much? Charcuterie boards are a one-stop answer to making your presentation POP. They are versatile, functional, and add a wow factor to any themed event. In this post we show you one example and give you ideas to adapt this fun presentation style to any party. We’ll give you tons of ideas to make your own. Friends and family will be drooling over your board’s presentation before they’ve even had a taste. Putting together a charcuterie board is like piecing together a delicious puzzle. It’s like a game that you can eat. Plus check out all the other fabulous and creative charcuterie boards being share today as part of our Charcuterie Board Blog Hop.

The first step is choosing your board’s theme. Do you want to create a dessert board, an appetizer board, or perhaps a little of both? The best charcuterie boards have a little bit of everything which creates dimension, texture and interest to the board. Adding some fresh fruit, veggies, color and texture makes your board more interesting and unique.

Julie and I have put together a guide to make the perfect, sweetest charcuterie board. This board comes with a twist: a chocolate fondue pot. This isn’t your typical charcuterie board. But we love it as example of outside of the box thinking. Anything goes with your charcuterie board, even fondue. Fondue a fun, unique activity to keep guests busy while you do your best hosting.

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Charcuterie Board Presentation

Presentation is key when it comes to creating a successful charcuterie board. Remember, these tips and tricks are applicable to any holiday or occasion, whether it be a baby shower, Fourth of July barbeque or Easter brunch.

Keep in mind the three elements for success:

1. Balance
2. Color
3. Texture

Keep these elements in mind when choosing items for your board. Before you begin, decide where you want to shop for your charcuterie board. Stores like Trader Joe’s or World Market are great for finding one-of-a-kind items. They have so many unique products and fun seasonal desserts that will take your board to the next level.

Why a Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board?

You may be asking, what’s so special about chocolate fondue? Well, it adds an element of fun to any party. It makes the party feel like a special occasion. After all, it’s not every day we indulge in fondue. Your guests will love the option of choosing what to dip. Plus, it makes a great photo opportunity so you can commemorate the moment. Lastly, who doesn’t love chocolate?

Fondue is a versatile dessert, allowing everyone to choose what pleases them. You can basically dip anything in chocolate. Offering a variety of items and snacks to dip is great if your guests have gluten allergies, are more health conscious or just have specific taste preferences.

The list of options is literally endless but here are a few of our favorite ideas:

• pretzels
• bread
• potato chips
• marshmallows
• cookies
• donuts
• Rice Krispie treats.

A healthier fondue dipping option:

Use dark chocolate with a high percentage of cacao (at least 60%) for the fondue, and dip fresh and dried fruit. With a larger group and when you don’t know your guests’ preferences its best to be prepared with a large assortment to please all tastes. Provide a little bit of everything so they have options to choose from.

Pro tip: Be sure to set out skewers or toothpicks for smaller items so you can easily dip them in the fondue without making a huge mess. Purchase my adorable fondue pot.

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

You can also apply any of these ideas to create a fabulous and romantic Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board. If you have plans with your significant other, hubby, boyfriend or girlfriend, this is a perfect opportunity to enjoy a delicious fondue board. Surprise them with a cute candlelit dinner when they get home from work. Have the chocolate fondue charcuterie board waiting for dessert with strawberries, heart-shaped cookies, red velvet cake pieces and red and pink donut holes. So romantic and intimate. You will remember this moment for years.

For even more Valentine’s Day inspiration, be sure to check out our best budget-friendly Valentine’s Day décor.

4 Steps to Create the Perfect Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

Step 1: Choose Your Color Scheme

When planning your chocolate fondue charcuterie board, you’ll want to decide if you want to focus on an over-arching color scheme. You can go for a natural theme, a more vibrant color theme, or even focus on one to three colors. Color scheme is especially key for holiday entertaining.

For example:

Valentine’s Day – You can brainstorm foods are pink and red, like apple slices, strawberries, cherries, pink cookies or macaroons and red velvet cake pieces.

Easter – Look for foods that are pastel colors, add pastel frosting to simple cakes or cookies or dip bunny shaped marshmallows.

St. Patrick’s Day – Look for foods that are green or died green or gold for the occasion. Oreos sprayed with edible gold “Color Mist” look just like lucky coins. Look for seasonally inspired cookies too.

Step 2: Choose Sweet, Savory or Both

It’s important to decide if you want a primarily savory or sweet board, or an even combination of both. Personally, I like the idea of a sweet and savory charcuterie board, because it gives your guests options to choose from and caters to a wider range of palettes.

For sweeter dipping items choose:

• cookies
• Red Vines
• Twizzlers
• pound cake
• pink and red donuts.

For savory items choose:

• butter crackers
• French baguettes
• ruffled potato chips.

But as I said before, having a good mix of both is great to appeal to all your guests.

And if chocolate isn’t your thing try a traditional more savory charcuterie board like some of the other bloggers did! There are so many options to choose from. Be sure to check out all the links at the end of this post.

Step 3: Choose Your Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

Now that you’ve decided on the content of your board, it’s time to choose the board itself. There are so many materials and surfaces to choose from, like wood, ceramic, metal or marble. It all depends on the look you’re going for.

 

Click on the pictures below to shop. This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

• Choose a wood cutting board for an organic feel. The beauty and versatility of wooden cutting boards makes them our favorite. Depending on the one you choose a wooden cutting board compliments just about any style of kitchen and décor, from modern, industrial, farmhouse, cottage, rustic, you name it.

• Choose ceramic, stone and marble to create a more modern glam look. These are classic and elegant in any home.

Step 4: Go Shopping for Your Fondue Charcuterie Board

It’s time to head to your local supermarket to shop for materials! There are so many options so here are some ideas to get you thinking. Choose one item from each category so you don’t go overboard. Also, don’t head to the store without a list. You’ll end up getting things you don’t need or won’t use. Try to keep in mind the size of the board you’ve chosen and approximately how many different items you think will fit on your board. If you have a large group, you can always place a small amount of the different choices on the board and plan to refill with the extras during the party.

Healthy Gluten-free Options

Fresh Fruit:

• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Pineapple
• Blackberries
• Grapes
• Pears
• Orange segments
• Apples
• Cantaloupe (melon balls or cubes)
• Raspberries
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Papaya
• Fresh Coconut Chunks

Dried Fruit:

• Papaya
• Mangos
• Banana chips
• Apples
• Figs
• Dates

Sweet Options

Cookies:

• Biscotti
• Macarons
• Lady fingers
• Ginger snaps
• Meringue
• Oreos
• Shortbread
• Fortune cookies
• Graham Crackers
• Vanilla Wafers
• Almond butter windmill cookies

Sweet Breads:

• Date nut bread
• Banana bread
• Cinnamon bread
• Carrot bread
• Zucchini bread

Other:

• Marshmallows
• Angel food cake (cubed)
• Pound cake (cubed
• Rice Krispies (cubed)
• Granola bars
• Donuts
• Scones
• Popcorn balls
• Madeleines

Savory Options

• Potato Chips
• Pretzels
• French Baguette (cubed)

Chocolate for the Fondue Charcuterie Board

Don’t forget to buy chocolate for the fondue pot. I used a 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can use your favorite chocolate bar and break it up or use dark or milk chocolate according to your taste. To melt the chocolate, I followed the directions on the package and melted it easily in the microwave just a few minutes before guests arrived.

What is the Best Kind of Melting Chocolate?

Milk Chocolate has a lower melting temperature than dark chocolate, but both are good choices for melting. Both can easily be melted using the microwave. Use chocolate chips or break up bars into small pieces for easier melting.

White Chocolate has a higher melting temperature than milk or dark chocolate but is sensitive to scorching so should only be melted in a double bowler, not a microwave. You can still use white chocolate in your fondue, but it will take a little more time and attention.

In the end the best kind of chocolate to melt for your fondue is according to your own taste.

Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board Must-Have: Skewers

If you are serving more than two people (the fondue pot comes with two small skewer-forks) you are going to want to provide something for your guests to use to dip some of the smaller items into the chocolate with. In some cases, toothpicks might work but we recommend using bamboo skewers for easier dipping.

Step 5: Time to Assemble Your Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

Once you’ve acquired all your materials, lay them out on a flat surface like a kitchen counter and get ready to assemble. It’s important to get everything out of the boxes and containers to see the shapes next to each other. Like I said before, it’s almost like piecing together a puzzle. But in this case, you can eat it. How fun! To start, place ceramic or glass containers towards the middle of the board to store small items like candies, berries or marshmallows.

Then, build the board around the bowls. Begin placing your food items in groups (according to color and food category) surrounding the bowls, filling in all the gaps. By the end, you’ll want zero white space and to fill the entire board as best you can. You can even overlap items and add some pastel colored flower petals around the edges of the board.

P.S. Trader Joe’s is a great place to buy flowers.

Final Steps: Melting the Chocolate and Preparing the Fondue Pot

• You’ve got your board ready to go and guests are going to be arriving any minute.
• Now is the time to melt the chocolate and get the fondue pot ready.
• It’s important to leave these tasks for right before you are ready to serve the fondue to your guests in order to assure the proper consistency and temperature of the chocolate.
• Read through all the steps of how to melt the chocolate and how to prepare the fondue pot (or bain-marie) ahead of time so you know what to do.
• Practice getting the bain-marie set up so you know how much water to use. Once you’re ready melting the chocolate and setting up the bain-marie should happen at the same time. It’s not that hard just follow these simple steps:
  • Start heating the water in a tea kettle WHILE you start melting the chocolate.
  • By the time the chocolate is ready to go your hot water will be ready too.

What is the Best Way to Melt Dark Chocolate?

The easiest way to melt dark chocolate is in a microwave. Here’s how:

1. Place chocolate (chips or pieces) into a microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave at 50% power for 1-1.5 minutes.
3. Remove and stir.
4. Continue to microwave at 50% power at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is creamy and smooth.

What is the Best Way to Melt White Chocolate?

• Place white chocolate chips or pieces into the top section of a double boiler.
• Place a small amount of water in the bottom of the double boiler and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to allow for the water to continue to boil at a simmer.
• Stir chocolate until completely melted.
• Remove from heat.

How to use the Bain-Marie Fondue Pot

1. Melt the chocolate according to directions.
2. While you are melting the chocolate boil water in a kettle.
3. Then pour a small amount of boiling water into the bottom of the bain-marie.
4. Pour the melted chocolate into the top bowl of the bain-marie fondue pot.
5. Place the top bowl onto the bottom bowl. The boiling water will provide just enough heat to keep the melted chocolate hot.
6. Lastly, light the tea light under the fondue pot to help maintain the warm temperature.

Pro Tip: Be sure not to put too much boiling water in the bottom of the bain-marie fondue pot or it will overflow when you put the top bowl on top. Test it out first or you risk spilling water all over your board like I did.

Shop mine (which I love!) by clicking on the picture below:

Snap Some Photos of Your Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board

Don’t forget to leave time for photos. Food photography is a tricky skill to master, so don’t feel like you must be a pro right away. It certainly takes a lot of practice and you’ll most likely have to take 20-30 shots to get a couple social media ready photos. But that’s okay. Perfection is not the goal here.

Here are some photo tips:

• Make sure you have adequate lighting. I recommend taking photos in the morning before the sun gets too bright, and in the evening when the sun is about to set.
• You don’t want glaring or harsh light or not enough light.
• You can also take photos near a window to get some natural lighting.
• It’s important to get multiple angles and perspectives as well. Take some from above, from the side, closer up, and some full-size shots.
• Be aware of the backdrop. Aim for clean, white backgrounds to achieve a more minimalistic look.
• If you’re using an iPhone, use Portrait Mode. It’s especially good for food photography because it focuses in on the food and slightly blurs the background. Essentially, it achieves the look of using a professional camera with just a smart phone.
• If you have a DSLR feel free to use that too. You can compare the shots afterwards. All in all, just have fun with it!

Serve your Chocolate Fondue Charcuterie Board to Guests

Now, it’s time to serve your masterpiece to guests. Even if you aren’t planning a formal  party, you can at least invite a few girlfriends over for brunch or drinks in the evening. Feel free to serve white wine, champagne or rosé to go with it. A charcuterie board is also the perfect way to serve appetizers or snacks for friends. It adds a certain “je ne sais quoi” (in other words, a certain stylish flair). It will definitely impress.

Make your Charcuterie Board Unique

Now you know how to create the perfect chocolate fondue charcuterie board. We hope these tips and tricks inspire you to create your own festive charcuterie board. Whether you choose to create a chocolate fondue charcuterie board or a variation of your own creation we hope you’re empowered to think outside the box, get creative, and have fun. Remember, these tips can apply to any holiday or occasion throughout the year.

If you enjoyed this post share it with your friends, save it, pin the photos and leave us a comment. We sincerely appreciate when you do. And be sure to check out some of our other entertaining blog posts next.

Be sure to try these other amazing charcuterie board ideas from some of our favorite bloggers. Take a look below!