Hi,
I am making a wedding cake in July, and the bride isn't quite sure what flavor cake/filling she wants, but she told me she definately wants some kind of chocolate and FRESH sliced strawberries. I have made several cakes with fruit preserve fillings, but never sliced, fresh fruit. Two ideas came to mind for this: a chocolate cake with buttercream filling, and strawberries sandwiched in the buttercream. Or white cake with chocolate ganache filling and strawberries. I am not sure if these ideas will turn out? I don't know if I should sweeten the berries or not? I am also concerned about the water in the berries causing problems. Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you! Any ideas are welcome.

I'm not the person to ask maybe cause I still only do cakes for friends /family and lots of them turn out experimental LOL (did first paid cake last month though)> but I did the Dora jigsaw puzzle cake in my photos with fresh strawberries and BC, the photo is kind of dark so you cant tell but it turned out well, and tasted great, you dont need to sweeten the strawberries. I did a filling in another cake this past Sunday (pics not off camera yet) that I decided would try out simmering fresh strawberries in cornstarch/sugar/water mix, and I didnt like that as much. Fresh strawberries with a vanilla cream filling or something in between the layers would be great!

I have done a few cakes with fresh strawberries, I have just filled with my filling and then sprinkled the sliced berries directly on top of the filling. Then the next layer of cake. I did not notice any type of problem with moisture from the berries and they were not sweetened at all. The sweetness of the filling more than makes up for any tartness of the berries. I think the chocolate filling with strawberries sounds great!
Crissy

Strawberry filling is one of my most popular fillings. Whenever I can get fresh strawberries (there are only a few months out of the year when I can't), I will slice them on top of strawberry filling or bavarian cream filling (for a cassata cake). It is a nice added touch. I have never had any issues with the moisture from the strawberries affecting the layer of cake they're touching. I've also never sweetened the strawberries ... the sweetness from the cake and whatever other filling you're using will be enough sweetness. Both combinations you mentioned sound YUMMY!!

I made a cake last week that had fresh strawberries in whipped cream as the filling and it was really good.

Yes definitely do NOT sweeten the strawberries - besides the previously stated fact that they are tasty without it, adding sugar to them MAKES them just and THEN you might have a liquid problem, but not with just the berries. They are really good in a layer of vanilla or cheesecake mousse.