Smoked Salmon Cake
Salmon cake combines traditional partners: Pumpernickel bread, smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumbers are "iced" with more cream cheese.
Martha Stewart Living
http://www.marthastewart.com/333861/smoked-salmon-cake
Ingredients
- 3 eight-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 loaves pumpernickel bread, cut into 16 half-inch slices, with crusts
- 1 pound smoked salmon, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 seedless cucumbers, thinly sliced into 1/8-inch slices, patted dry, plus more for decorating sides of cake
- 1/2 cup creme fraiche
- 2 1/2 ounces salmon roe
- 1 ounce black caviar
- Lemon wedges, for garnish
Directions
- In a small bowl, combine eight ounce cream cheese, red onion, capers, dill, and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper, and stir until smooth. Lay four bread slices on a clean work surface; trim 1/4 inch from all sides of slices. Spread 1 tablespoon cream-cheese mixture on top of one slice, and layer with smoked salmon and cucumber (try not to overlap cucumber slices). Spread another thin layer of the cream-cheese mixture on top. Repeat with two more bread slices.
- Neatly stack prepared slices, filling side up, squaring the sides with your hands; top with the fourth bread slice. Repeat with remaining bread and filling to create three more stacks in this way.
- Transfer stacks to a serving platter with their long sides touching. In a small bowl, combine remaining 16 ounces cream cheese and creme fraiche until smooth. Using offset spatula, spread mixture evenly over assembled cake. Refrigerate, covered, two hours or overnight.
- Before serving, arrange overlapping cucumber slices around base of cake; spoon salmon roe and caviar along the top, and sprinkle with dill. Garnish the platter with lemon wedges.
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