Smörgåstårta – Savory Rye Sandwich Cake
This savory layered sandwich cake is a very Swedish thing. It is called smörgåstårta and is traditionally made by layering white bread with mayonnaise, creme cheese, whipped cream, dill, chives, shrimps, salmon and a bunch of other stuff. It’s basically like a sandwich gone wild. Even if we are not completely sold on the very heavy traditional version, there is something intriguing about the concept of a sandwich cake.
So I made my own version, using rye bread and three colorful and fresh (but still quite rich) spreads in between. One green spread with avocado, dill and peas. One white spread with egg, sauerkraut and creme fraiche. And one purple spread with beans, beetroot and sunflower seeds. I cover it with cream cheese with a sting of horseradish and lots of finely sliced veggies and flowers. It looks great, is fun to make and really delicious. Sandwich cake FTW!
This is the perfect savory dish to make for a party, brunch or gathering with friends. You can easily half the recipe or make it vegan by skipping the egg layer and replacing the cream cheese with coconut cream. If you want to try a gluten-free version of this cake you could either simply use a gluten free bread, or bake 4 trays of the vegetable flatbreads (this option is a little time consuming but would probably taste amazing).
Ingredients:
- 300 g / 2 cups cup green peas
- 1 small lemon, juice
- 1 bunch dill, chopped
- 2 avocados, flesh scooped out
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large pinch salt
- 6 hard-boiled eggs
- 250 g / 1 cup creme fraice or sour cream
- 2 tbsp capers
- 4 tbsp sauerkraut
- a pinch black pepper
- 1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for an hour in water
- 1 x 400 g tin white beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cooked beetroots, roughly chopped
- 1 small lemon, juice
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 36 slices of sourdough rye bread (or bread of choice), thinly sliced
- 500 g cream cheese
- 1 tbsp grated horseradish
- 1 avocado, sliced or shaped into a rose
- 1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly
- 1 small bunch of asparagus, thinly shaved
- 1 lemon, halved and thinly sliced
- mache lettuce
- chives, finely chopped