Smorgastarta (Sandwich Cake)

This Easter I decided to be very ambitious and make a smorgastarta.  In Sweden these are served at weddings, showers, and special events.  In my opinion they should be served at every event.  I apologise for a very inexact recipe, but its a sandwich do whatever you wish and have fun.

I started with a beautiful acacia board and some organic greens with herbs.  This made for a great presentation and ease of serving and slicing.

1 round loaf bread
3 baby cucumbers
1/2lb smoked fish spread
1/2lb salad shrimp
3 boiled eggs
Small bunch dill
1lb gravlax
1/4lb swedish fontina
2 green onions sliced fine

Frosting
2T mayo
small tub creme fraiche
whipped crm chz to taste

I used a round Hawaiian bread and sliced it into three layers.  The bottom layer was frosted with a thin layer of creme fraiche, to keep the bread from going soggy, then smoked fish spread. Any seafood salad you like would work here.  I also sliced some baby cucumbers with my mandoline and added them to this layer for crunch.

Layer two is egg and shrimp salad. Two chilled boiled eggs and half of the cold cooked shrimp is mixed with mayo, creme fraiche, dill, and 1/2 green onions. Season to taste.

The top layer is where you can get creative and have some fun.  Mix the frosting ingredients with some dill and green onions, this isn't traditional but its extra delicious. I only used 2T cream cheese to thicken it up, but you could use more if you want it tangy. Frost your sandwich working from the top down.  Roll the slices of gravlax so there will be one per slice.  Between the pieces of salmon add the remaining shrimp and top with a ring of slice eggs.  Press the remaining cucumber slices into the side of the cake and add rolls of cheese slices.  If you really love cheese you can put more inside the layers as well ( my husband ate half of it the day before so I didn't have this option.)  I wanted to add red pepper slices but ran out of room so I just piled them on the board with some grapes for contrast.

Enjoy with mimosas and nutella cheesecake pots with strawberries.  Don't forget to invite some friends over so you don't have to eat the same sandwich for a week.  Feel free to make this your own, and let me know if you have any questions.  I know its probably not very Swedish, but my Swedish husband gave it a 9.5 on his food scale.

Hangry

Don't get Hangry always keep a snack nearby.