What’s a Smörgåstårta I hear you ask? I first heard of it from my husband’s aunt who is Finnish. We were having a Swedish themed Worldwide Food Night and I only knew of Gravlax, Pickled Herring and Swedish Meatballs. The fact that it loosely translates to “Sandwich Cake” immediately pricked up my ears. Here’s a brief description from Wikipedia:
“Smörgåstårta (”sandwich cake”) is a Swedish dish. It is a kind of sandwich with so much filling that it more resembles a cake than a sandwich.
The smörgåstårta is normally made up of several layers of buttered bread with creamy fillings in between. The kind of fillings and toppings varies, but egg and mayonnaise are normally the base, and typically accompanied by any combination of liver paté, olives, prawns, caviar, and smoked salmon.
Smörgåstårta is normally served cold and sliced like a dessert cake, usually with white wine or beer.”
I had an issue as one of my guests doesn’t eat fish. There goes the traditional recipe so I improvised and used cold meats.
Smörgåstårta
- 12 slices of crustless bread buttered on both sides (white and 9 grain)
- Olive Mortadella-6 slices
- Swiss cheese-6 slices
- Grilled eggplant-3 thick large slices
- Sun dried tomato-6 large chopped
- Spanish salami-9 slices
- Olive dip-150g (Josephine’s or Yumi’s)
- Cajun beef-250g each piece folded to make the swirly pattern
- Gherkin spread-250g
- 1 cucumber sliced thinly
- Place 3 pieces of bread on the bottom layer. You will make 4 layers with 3 slices on each layer.
- On the bottom layer place cheese and olive mortadella.
- Place 3 more pieces of bread then on the next layer place grilled eggplant and sun dried tomato.
- On the next layer place 3 more pieces of bread and then spanish salami and olive dip.
- Place last 3 pieces of bread on the top layer and spread with gherkin spread and then artistically arrange the cajun beef.
- Lastly place cucumber slices around it adhered with gherkin dip. And voila! A Swedish sensation beyond ABBA or Roxette!
I leave you with a hall of fame of other gorgeous Smörgåstårta’s that I found on the internet. Mine looks rather plain and inglorious in comparison but you’ve got to start somewhere.
From http://web.comhem.se/greatone/
From http://tavaratalot.stockmann.fi
From www.restaurangbalder.se
From www.kfgota.se
P.S. Will the lady in the purple batwinged ABBA-esque jumpsuit please audition for Australian Idol.
6 Comments | Add your own
i had chicken kotbullar for dinner tonight from waitrose. they was well good…. mmmmmm…
my mother in law makes the best smörgåstårta.
a perfect dish for a summer smörgåsbord.
Hi Blythe-I love Swedish meatballs (kotbullar) too and Iespecially love the cream sauce. I bought two extra packets of the sauce from Ikea and just had it over meat!
Hi Anna-you lucky thing! Its one of those foods that tastes as good as it looks. I almost don’t want to cut into it
Hi.
I manage to get to your page when I was looking for inspiration to decorate my smörgåstårta. I’m Swedish and I’ve done more cakes then I can count in my life. I was very supriced that I would end up here.
Anyway, wile I’m still here I though I could give you all a tip or two how to make your smörgåstårta extra Swedish (and off course extra GOOD). =)
I always make a basic paste witch I have in each layer and around the cake. It makes it more moist. The paste contains; 2 parts cream cheese, 1 part mayonnaise, 1½ parts créam fraiche, a dash of lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
I have 3 layers with 2 different fillings.
My tip is not to mix to much, stick with either meat, fish and shellfish or vegetarian.
Example:
Layer 1 and 3; Mix some of the basic paste with hard boiled chopped eggs, chopped red onion and fresh grind black pepper.
Layer 2; Mix some of the basic paste with chopped shellfish, rum and finely chopped dill.
Decorate with rum, scrimps, cheese, salad leafs, vegetable and lots of fresh fruit (like strawberry, passion fruit and physalis).
ENJOY !!
Hi Lina-Thanks so much for your tip. I really want to make this again so I’ll use your tips for sure! I can see how the fruit can really enhance the look and make it more “cake-like”!
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