Taste testing Richmond's only sandwich cake
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Cake or sandwich? Photo: Ned Oliver/Axios
Ingrid Schatz is best known for her Swedish pastries, but last weekend the Chesterfield County baker's menu featured a wild card: the sandwich cake.
What's happening: Schatz, a half-Swedish mother of two, operates Axelsdotter Bakery out of her home in Chesterfield.
- After she put sandwich cake on her rotating weekly menu last year, she says it became her most requested item.
- And last weekend, she finally put it back on her menu again.
Schatz describes sandwich cake, or Smörgåstårta, as a Swedish delicacy.
- "They are quite the celebration food in Sweden, and while I don't fully know the history of them, I can only assume that they are born from the Scandinavian open-faced sandwiches," she tells Axios.
- Her version contains a shrimp-dill salad and a smoked-salmon egg salad between layers of sandwich bread.
- It's iced with whipped cream cheese and topped with greens, eggs, shrimp and all kinds of other stuff, including a single snap pea placed just so.
The verdict: It tastes great. I snagged one this weekend ($50) after my wife showed me a picture on Instagram.
- I spent most of my week thinking about eating it and was worried there was no way it could match expectations.
- It was as good as it looks. This is not a case of form over function. Cut a slice, and you suddenly have a super tasty tea sandwich on your plate.
- My friends and I liked how light it was and marveled that it had somehow held up to the mayo-based salads without becoming a soggy mess.
Only one taster wasn't into it: a friend's 3-year-old who was expecting normal cake.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to remove a redundant clause about Schatz's reputation for Swedish pastries.