Smörgåstårta aka Swedish Sandwich Cake

Over the summer, I found an amazing book while thrift shopping in Galveston. The recipe I was dying to try was the Party Sandwich Loaf. I stuck pretty closely to the original recipe in the book. On Pinterest, I spotted another version of this cake that is much more "Swedish" which is filled with smoked salmon and smoked herring mousse. It looks incredible, topped with smoked Salmon and shrimp...definitely a wower if you are wanting something more refined. My recipe sure impressed everyone who tried it....now that I know how to put it together, I am definitely open to doing some creative fillings and other sandwich toppings. 

Foodarama Party Book copyright 1959


Party Sandwich Loaf Recipe

1 small round loaf white bread (I used sourdough)
Softened butter or margarine
Ham and Celery Filling
Curried Egg filling
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Avocado filling
Cream cheese (I used 2 packages)
Light cream (I used a 16 oz sour cream)
Sliced stuffed olives
Sprigs of parsley
Other vegetables to garnish

Ham and celery filling: Combine 1 cup ground cooked ham, 1/2 cup finely chopped celery and enough mayonaise to moisten

Curried egg filling: Combine 4 finely chopped hard-cooked eggs, 1/2 tsp. curry powder and enough mayonaise to moisten. (I used a lot more than 1/2 tsp. and it was soo good)

Avocado filling: Mash 2 fully ripe avocados; add 2 Tbsp. highly seasoned French Dressing. Stir until well blended. (Not sure what 'highly seasoned French Dressing means so I just bought the one that said sweet and tangy)

Cut bread loaf, crosswise into four thick slices. Spread each slice with butter. Spread bottom slice with Ham and Celery Filling. Top with second bread slice; spread with Curried Egg Filling. Top with slices of tomato and third bread slice. Spread with Avocado filling; top with remaining bread slice. Mash cream cheese; stir in enough cream so cheese will spread easily; beat until smooth. Spread on top and sides of loaf. Garnish with olive slices and parsley. Cut into wedges and serve. Makes about 12 servings.

I mixed up a little extra cream cheese and sour cream than necessary, and I also had some of the ham filling left over so I threw it all together and it was a delicious veggie dip for the extra carrots and radishes I used for garnish.

Veggies I used on top:
Thinly sliced lemon
Radish
Parsley
Olives (I didn't use black but they would've been good too!)
Cherry (or grape) tomatoes
Carrots (using my apple corer, I cut rings)
Cucumber

I was afraid the bread would get soggy, but it stayed dry...it was a big hit at the fall fest party I went to Saturday night!!

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #52

YAY! I am super excited to play along this week with the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog! I remember the very first Cinema Saturday creative challenge. It has been a great year.

This week's movie is very funny (and a little bit sad too!). MRS. DOUBTFIRE!! Yay!! The challenge this week is to create something with a pocket on it.


I decided to take one of my altered photo albums and add a pocket to the front to transform it into a fantastic little recipe book. I am pretty happy with it. In the movie, Robbin Williams dresses like a woman and accidentally catches his boobs on fire...that is totally something I would do in the kitchen.... ;=0 I probably shouldn't be passing on cooking advice to others, but I like easy meals and I know one or two that could help out a newly married couple....






I have been collecting little 'cooking' papers and stickers so it was great to finally use them. I created a title page with stickers and some paper piercing. I have been in a bit of a creative rut lately so it was nice to force myself to get this done. I can't wait to fill it up with some sweet recipes and give it to a friend for a wedding gift!

Staying Busy. Very Busy.

I am going to a bridal shower on Saturday for a good friend who currently lives in St. Louis. I sent an engagement gift a couple of months ago so I was really struggling with what to get for her shower gift...and do I get a wedding gift too? Hmmm....I don't really know all the rules for that...Anyway, I decided to make her a shower gift and I might make a wedding gift too, it just depends on how busy I am in October.

One of the best gifts I have ever received, was from a friend who hand-wrote recipes on little cards and made me a recipe book. It was so thoughtful and sweet. I decided to make something similar for my friend Danielle.


Last night I was sitting in my craft room playing around with an old chipboard book and I decided to re-cover it and make the recipe book using it as the cover. My original plan was to use the Bind It All to add the pages. Well, I also had some cheap photo albums sitting on the table (you know, from the dollar store). Well, after cutting the book apart, the cover was still in tact and the photo album fit perfect inside....hmmmm...I used my pivot point stapler to attach the pages. Then I covered the book. Presto! Instant recipe book, completely customizable!!


(TOTALLY TAKEN AT NIGHT! :-)

I woke up this morning trying to figure out how to finish the recipe book. While I was thinking about it, I decided to use the extra chipboard to make more books for later. I learned that covering the book with paper, then stapling the pages, and lastly putting another layer of paper on the spine was the best way to make the book. To cover the book, I used glue dot sheets, they work way better than liquid glue or a tape runner for big areas like book covers.

You will be seeing these bad-mamba-jambas later!



Then I decided that the book would need some help staying closed so I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch some holes.


I only had black elastic (I bought it to finish up my daily calendar...I really wish I would've had white) but I simply put it through the holes and secured it in place with an eyelet.




Originally, I was just going to leave the cover plain so that it doesn't get torn up in the kitchen. But then I made this little page for the back of the book...and it looked absolutely adorable on the cover so I attached it with foam adhesive.

Then I made a front cover sheet and a back cover with measurement conversions.




Here is a shot of the inside of the book.


I went over to the LollyChops blog and downloaded some free printable recipe cards, cupcake recipes and other goodies for my book. If you have never checked out this bog before, I must warn you...it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I also printed some of my personal recipes from Allrecipes.com and I stuck in a few other recipes I hand wrote on the recipe cards.


I made a copy of the recipe cards so that I will have my handwriting preserved for future books. I will definitely make something like this again.



Supplies: Printables from Lollychops blog, patterned paper from My Minds Eye: Breaking Free Adventure Series, Kaisercraft paper, Martha Stewart Cupcakes, EK Success cupcakes, Stampin' up ribbon and crochet flower, The paper Studio paper, AC Thickers, white gel pen.