Layered Brie Cake with Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Yes, I am calling cranberry sauce layered between two wheels of brie a cake. Why? Because I can. And because it is just as good as any dessert cake out there. In a savory sense.

I take my cranberry sauce very seriously come Thanksgiving/Christmas. And I feel like in my recent years of gathering it has definitely been an afterthought on the holiday menu (and sometimes FORGOTTEN).  To me it is a classic and should be mandatory but apparently I have learned that not everyone feels this way. Apparently I’m also still a little bitter. 

So I decided I needed to spice things up a bit. Not only with the cranberry sauce but with its presentation. Teach an old dog new tricks, and believe it or not…. sometimes it sticks.

And let’s brie honest…. I am also kinda obsessed with melted cheese…………… who isn’t? Hot gooey baked melty cheesy goodness WITH cranberry sauce? Done. This post should end right here. I should stop typing. 

But you aren’t getting off the hook THAT easily.

I also decided to pair this up with a delicious Pizza Bianca. Crisp on the outside with a very thin layer of chew on the inside. I didn’t want a hard cracker nor did I feel like a soft piece of bread would do to go with the warmed cranberry sauce and melted gooey cheese. For the Pizza Bianca I used Americas Test Kitchen recipe which you can find here. However if you do not have an account or don’t want to sign up for a free trial (you should!) you can try Serious Eats recipe which is VERY similar and I am sure tastes wonderful (click here).

The recipe below is very easy to follow however I must warn you that you probably will be leftover with a cup or more of cranberry sauce (if you’re the more peanut butter over jelly kind of person). If this is the case I recommend bringing the extra in a decorative bowl and serve with dinner! Or you can do what I did and freeze the extra for the next holiday party when you can bring the same dish because people will be asking you to 🙂

Also the spice below is still tolerable for smaller children, it just has a little bit of a kick. Add more cayenne if you are feeling extra bold!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Layered Brie Cake with Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  30 mins

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Ingredients

• For the Cranberry Sauce:
• 1.5 lb fresh cranberries
• 1½ cups water
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cayenne
• For the Brie:
• 2 8oz wheels of brie
• For the Pizza Bianca please see links in post.

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. For the cranberry sauce:
3. In a medium sized pot over high heat add your water and sugar. Bring to a boil and then add all of your cranberries. Let the cranberries continue to boil for about 10-15 minutes until they have all popped, stirring occasionally.
4. Once cranberries have popped turn the heat down to a simmer and add your cinnamon, paprika and cayenne. Stir until sauce thickens for a couple more minutes and then remove from heat.
5. For the brie:
6. Scrape the tops off of each wheel of brie and the bottom off of one (so one will have both top and bottom scraped, and the other will just have the top)
7. Now for the "cake"
8. In a oven proof pan (OR if you are going to be transferring this into another dish later and are bringing it somewhere use a baking dish and place parchment paper on the bottom) add your first wheel of brie that is only cut on one side, cut side up.
9. Add about ½ cup of cranberry sauce and then place the other wheel of brie on top. Add about a cup or more of cranberry sauce on top and then place in oven on middle rack for 5-10 minutes (beginning to watch at minute 5 since you don't want the whole thing to collapse.... as mine eventually did because I got side tracked (as per usual).
10. Serve warm with sliced pizza bianca or cracker/bread of choice.

3.5.3208