Seafood Sandwich Cake (Lax och Räk Smörgåstårta)
This Swedish inspired seafood sandwich cake (smörgåstårta) is a show stopping centerpiece that will raise the bar at your next special event or celebration.
This is one epic sandwich.
There’s a few steps to the planning and preparation, but it’s worth it!
And, when you stop to think about it – it’s actually a lot simpler to make than it seems.
It’s perfect for special occasions.
We love it on holidays like New Year’s Eve and Easter as well as for Mother’s day, baptisms and birthdays, or for a memorable brunch.
I remember my first smörgåstårta as if it were yesterday.
It was my first time in Sweden, and having never seen anything like it before, I was a little skeptical. All of that cream and cheese?
My first bite was interesting. Then the second. By the third bite, I was convinced. This is the best thing ever.
After an amazing smörgåstårta dinner, I was informed – if you thought that was good, just wait until tomorrow.
It’s even better the next day.
The bread has time to absorb the cream and really let the flavors come together.
You can even have it for breakfast if you want to.
And I came to realize that, of course you’ll have it for breakfast, because it’s impossible to think of any other food when there’s smörgåstårta leftovers in your fridge.
That’s just a fact.
But wait a minute, it is a lot of cream and cheese right? Isn’t that way too heavy?
You know what?
We love to make these homemade sandwich cakes so often that we’ve actually found a way to lighten them up.
Instead of heavy cream or mayo, we use mostly Turkish labneh (tangy yogurt with a texture similar to cream cheese) and a little sour cream. That reduces the fat and calories by a long shot.
And with the creamiest consistency, it tastes like it would be worse for you, when it’s actually a lot healthier. How about that?
But what about all those carbs? That’s a ton of carbs.
Well, not if you use a low carb bread like Carbonaut. That’s what we do in this recipe. Our homemade smörgåstårta is actually made of a low carb, gluten free bread.
So basically, you can indulge in perhaps the richest, creamiest sandwich cake you’ve ever tasted, and rest assured that it’s lower in carbs, calories, gluten and fat.
Content in this Post
- Ingredients in Seafood Sandwich Cake (Smörgåstårta)
- How to Garnish Your Seafood Sandwich Cake (Smårgas Torta)
- Health Benefits of Seafood Sandwich Cake Smörgåstårta
- What to Serve With Seafood Sandwich Cake
- Sandwich Cake Charcuterie or Smörgåsbord Tips
- Storage Tips
- More Popular Swedish Recipes
- You’ll Also Love
Ingredients in Seafood Sandwich Cake (Smörgåstårta)
- Bread — you can use your bread of choice, our seafood sandwich cake is made with low carb and gluten free Carbonaut bread.
- Labneh — a thick yogurt cheese with flavor and texture similar to cream cheese.
- Sour Cream — use full fat, not light or fat free.
- Mustard — we love honey mustard in this sandwich cake.
- Sandwich Fillings (choose your favorite four):
- Salmon Salad Sandwich Filling (laxsallad till smörgåstårta)
- Tuna Salad Sandwich Filling (tonfiskröra till smörgåstårta)
- Shrimp Salad Sandwich Filling (räkröra till smörgåstårta)
- Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich Filling (läxröra till smörgåstårta)
- Egg Salad Sandwich Filling (äggsallad till smörgåstårta)
- Crab Salad Sandwich Filling (krabbröra till smörgåstårta)
- Lobster Salad Sandwich Filling (hummersallad till smörgåstårta)
- Cheese slices — we use Havarti cheese for the sides of the sandwich cake.
- Smoked Salmon — for garnish on top of the cake.
- Optional Garnishes — Feel free to choose your favorites from the following:
- radish
- dill
- chives
- cucumber
- lemon
- red onions
- grapes
Although we have shown five sandwich fillings above, we use four layers in our smörgåstårta, so you only need four fillings.
If you want to add a fifth layer and use them all you definitely can, you’ll just need more bread for an additional layer. Likewise, you can choose three fillings for a three layer sandwich cake.
You can choose your sandwich fillings and prep them ahead the night before you need them. That will make things so much easier.
The next day, when those are done, all you have to do is assemble and garnish.
We chose to put tuna salad on the bottom layer, egg salad on the second layer, smoked salmon on the third layer and ended with shrimp salad on top. You can choose any order you like.
How to Garnish Your Seafood Sandwich Cake (Smårgas Torta)
Garnishing a sandwich cake is kind of an art form.
We never know exactly how it will go and the design is different each time.
As you can see from our mise en place pictured above, we had planned to use grapes but then left them out because the smörgåstårta was so full already.
You can decorate your sandwich cake in endless ways, it’s totally up to you.
We try to keep our design symmetrical for the most impressive presentation. Plus, that way each slice has the same toppings when cut.
But you can choose your favorite toppings and let your creativity run wild!
If you’re occasion is super fancy and you want to go all out, with lobster and crab legs, check out our lobster sandwich cake. It’s made similar to this seafood sandwich cake, but garnished with shellfish!
Health Benefits of Seafood Sandwich Cake Smörgåstårta
We use labneh and sour cream instead of creme fraiche and mayo for a sandwich cake lower in calories and fat. In our recipe, low carb, gluten free Carbonaut bread takes the place of regular loaves.
This cake is loaded with seafood, eggs, cheese, yogurt and vegetables and is naturally a cornucopia of vitamins and minerals. It’s bursting with nutrients and contains zinc, protein, iron and vitamin B12.
What to Serve With Seafood Sandwich Cake
This is a hearty cake. You won’t need much more food to go with. It’s quite rich on its own and is usually the star of the show.
There are a lot of ingredients, and they combine beautifully for a special occasion.
If you like, you can serve pita pizzas as an appetizer. Two pita pizzas are a perfect amount for four people. We often choose seafood pita pizzas with our seafood sandwich cakes.
Here are our favorites to serve with a seafood smörgåstårta:
These pita pizzas are festive, and have a restaurant style flair to them, while being super easy to prepare!
Serve with sparkling apple or pear cider, non-alcoholic or with alcohol.
Sandwich Cake Charcuterie or Smörgåsbord Tips
If you don’t want to assemble the whole cake, you can serve it as a smörgåsbord (sandwich table), or as we like to call it, a smörgåstårta-bord.
Set it all up as a sandwich cake charcuterie board. Lay out all of the ingredients and provide several plates as well as cutlery.
Basically, you’ll need what you see in our ingredient mise en place photo above. Plus, any additional sandwich fillings or toppings you’d like to include.
Keep the different sandwich fillings in bowls, but you can arrange the rest of the ingredients (cheese, vegetables, bread, grapes, etc.) on nice charcuterie style wooden serving trays.
Let your guests make their own individual mini sandwich cakes or smörgåsår (open faced sandwiches).
This is perfect concept for when you can’t decide on a seafood or meat smörgåstårta.
You can include ingredients for both types and then build your own sandwiches according to individual preferences.
Storage Tips
We like to assemble our sandwich cakes directly onto a serving platter that is just slightly larger than the cake itself. The cake looks great on it, is easy to store in the fridge, and takes up the least amount of space.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a flat rectangular serving platter, you can assemble your sandwich cake right onto a cake storage container with lid.
We have a Wilton Cake Caddy with a lid that snaps on securely. We usually make ours right on the base and then we can easily cover and transfer to the fridge. It does take up a lot of space though, so use it only if you don’t mind that.
It’s super easy to get the leftovers that way, and return to the fridge again. You won’t have to deal with any cling wrap that way. But it’s not as presentable as on a serving platter. When we make sandwich cakes for our own family, we don’t mind using the cake caddy.
This seafood sandwich cake will keep in the fridge for three days, but is best enjoyed within a day or two, for freshest flavor.
More Popular Swedish Recipes
Here are some favorite Swedish homestyle and restaurant inspired recipes to try:
- Swedish Cabbage Pizza Salad (Pizzasallad)
- Swedish Pancakes (Pannkakor)
- Swedish Mini Pancakes (Plättar)
- Instant Pot IKEA Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
- Creamy Pickled Beet Salad (Rödbetssallad)
- Meatball and Pickled Beet Salad Open Faced Sandwich (Köttbullemacka)
Check out these and other favorite Swedish recipes like IKEA shrimp sandwich (Rakmacka) without mayo. This sandwich is perfect when you crave a sandwich cake but are unable to make one. With similar flavors, it takes much less time to assemble, but is still very satisfying.
Plus, you can find the must have Swedish grocery items to have on hand for all of the best sandwich recipes and more!
You’ll Also Love
Try these meat based sandwich cakes:
- Traditional Sandwich Cake (Smörgåstårta) — a liver pate and relish layer, stack up with deli style ham and roast beef layers in savory frosting with fresh and crisp grapes and cherry tomatoes on top.
- Chicken Sandwich Cake (Kyckling Smörgåstårta) — incorporates game day flavors with buffalo chicken wing meat, bacon, chicken salad and savory frosting.
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Seafood Sandwich Cake (Lax och Räk Smörgåstårta)
Ingredients
Tuna Salad Sandwich Filling
- 12 ounces Tuna, canned, drained
- ¼ Cup Labneh
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream, regular, not light or fat free
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- ¼ Cup Dill, chopped or snipped into small pieces
- ½ teaspoon Hot Sauce, Frank's Red Hot
- 1 teaspoon All Purpose Seasoning Blend, ¼ tsp each: paprika, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder
Egg Salad Sandwich Filling
- 6 Eggs, hard boiled
- ¼ Cup Labneh
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream, regular, not light or fat free
- ¼ Cup Dill, fresh dill, chopped in small pieces
- ¼ Cup Red Onion, diced fine
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon Hot Sauce, Frank's Red Hot
- 1 teaspoon All Purpose Seasoning Blend, ¼ tsp each: paprika, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder
Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich Filling
- 5.3 ounces Smoked Salmon , chopped in small pieces, 150 g
- ¼ Cup Labneh
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream, regular, not light or low fat
- ¼ Cup Dill, fresh, chopped in small pieces
- ⅛ Cup Chives, fresh, chopped in small pieces
- ⅛ Cup Red Onion, diced fine
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- ½ teaspoon Salt , Himalayan, ground
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper, freshly ground
Shrimp Salad Sandwich Filling
- 12 ounces Shrimp, cold water shrimp, 340 g
- ¼ Cup Labneh
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream, regular, not low fat
- ¼ Cup Dill, snipped small
- ⅛ Cup Chives, snipped small
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- ½ teaspoon Salt, Himalayan, ground
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper, freshly ground
Sandwich Cake Savory Frosting
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream, regular, 14%
- ¾ Cup Labneh
- ½ tablespoon Honey Mustard
- ¼ Cup Fresh Dill , chopped fine
Bread
- 24 Slices Carbonaut Bread, 2 loaves, low carb, gluten free
Cheese and Optional Garnishes
- 6 Slices Havarti Cheese
- 150 grams Smoked Salmon
- 1 Cup Shrimp, cold water shrimp
- ¼ Cup Fresh Dill, chopped fine or kept in sprigs
- 1 Lemon , sliced in rounds
- ½ Cucumber, sliced in rounds
- ⅛ Cup Red Onion, sliced fine
- 4 Radishes , sliced fine
- ¼ Cup Chives, chopped into small pieces
Instructions
Prepare Four Sandwich Fillings in Four Separate Bowls
- Combine ingredients for your favorite four of the following sandwich mixes in four separate medium sized bowls (salmon salad, egg salad, tuna salad, shrimp salad, smoked salmon salad). Cover and place in fridge until ready to assemble sandwich cake.
Prepare the Savory "Frosting"
- Add labneh, sour cream, honey mustard to a medium sized bowl.
- Mix well to thoroughly combine. Cover and store in fridge until needed.
Assemble the Seafood Sandwich Cake (Smorgastarta)
- Cut off crusts from two loaves of Carbonaut (low carb and gluten free) bread. Try to cut them into same sized rectangles as much as possible. [Reserve crusts to make gluten free, low carb stuffing or bread crumbs in other recipes (some ideas to not let the bread go to waste)]
- Place 6 pieces of bread on a flat serving platter to form the base of the cake.
- Spread the tuna salad sandwich mix to cover the six slices of bread entirely.
- Place another 6 pieces of bread on top of the tuna salad layer.
- Spread egg salad sandwich mix on top of the six slices of bread to cover entirely.
- Place 6 more slices of bread on top of the egg salad sandwich layer.
- Spread smoked salmon salad sandwich mix on top of the six slices of bread to cover completely.
- Place another 6 slices of bread on top of the smoked salmon salad sandwich layer.
- Spread shrimp salad sandwich mix on top of the six slices of bread to cover completely.
- Remove prepared savory frosting from fridge and spread it on the outside edges around the sandwich cake.
- Place Havarti cheese slices around the outside of the sandwich cake, press cheese slices one by one, against the savory frosting and the cheese will adhere to the cake.
Garnish Your Sandwich Cake
- Place sliced cucumber onto the cheese around the sandwich cake.
- Place sliced radishes on top of the sandwich cake. Follow with cold water shrimp on top of the sliced radishes.
- Place lemon slices, and chives on the sandwich cake.
- Place smoked salmon, dill and sliced red onions on top of the sandwich cake.
Nutrition
Note
The above nutritional values are estimates and should only be used as a guide. If you are following a specific diet or have dietary restrictions, please use your preferred nutritional calculator. If you have a food allergy please ensure that none of the listed ingredients are part of your restrictions. As well, always use a food thermometer to ensure safe cooking temperature of the food items.
