frankie fodder: roast pork smörgåstårta

Smörgåstårta, a sandwich cake, is a popular party dish originating in Sweden, as well as being gobbled down across the Baltic Sea. Taking the normal layered shape of a cake, it’s made with spongy base layers, either white toast or dark rye, and stacked with creamy savoury fillings and garnish on top.

Normally a smörgåstårta will have two separate fillings: most commonly ham, smoked salmon or crayfish. A quick tip: it’s best to make it a day before serving, so the fillings can all seep into the bread.



INGREDIENTS:

20 slices of bread of your choosing

Pork filling:
600g roast pork, preferably homemade, with a bit of fat on it too
150ml mayonnaise
100ml meat juices from the roasting pan or meat stock
2 tbsp mustard

Cream cheese filling:
400g cream cheese with herbs and garlic
1 large avocado
80ml mayonnaise

Garnishes:
150g butter
quail eggs
ham rolls
seedless grapes
micro salad greens
a bunch of radishes



INSTRUCTIONS:

1. To make the pork filling, place the pork, meat juices and mayonnaise in a food processor and process it all to a consistent paste.



2. Mix in the mustard and taste for seasoning. If the meat was well-seasoned, you probably won’t need to add any. Set this aside.

3. To make the cream cheese filling, place the cream cheese, avocado and mayonnaise in a food processor and process until smooth. The fillings should have a soft consistency like a good whole fat yoghurt, but should not be runny.



4. Divide the bread into piles of four slices and trim off all the crusts. You can either use them as they are (for a square shaped cake) or cut them into triangles to make a circle. If the circle is what you’re after, arrange the triangles as a pinwheel, trimming the outer tips.



5. Place eight triangles on a platter, then spread with a good amount of pork filling.



6. Top with another set of bread triangles, then spread these with the cheese filling. The filling should be thicker than what you'd normally put on your sandwich – about 7-8mm or a third of an inch.



7. Continue to stack and spread until you run out of toast.



8. Pile any remaining pork filling on top and smooth it out. You should have three layers of pork filling and two layers of cheese



9. You should be left with about a 100g of cream cheese filling. Mix that with soft butter and use this mixture to cover all around the sides. I even had enough to cover the top! Cover the cake with cling film and pop into the fridge.

10. Just before serving, garnish the sides with radish slices. On top I put micro-salad leaves, halved seedless grapes, cheese-filled ham rolls, halved quail eggs and radish slices. Popular garnishes also include gherkins, pickles, cherry tomatoes, physalis, olives, oranges, cheese rolls etc.



See more of Elisa's scrummy cooking over on her blog.