I have been reading the posts on disasters, to try to prevent some before they happen, and many times when people fill cakes with fruit, cream, or caramel fillings, the fillings ooze out and cause the icing to fall off the sides. The answer to many is that they may have used too much filling. Here begins my question, how is one to know how much is too much? I want to be sure there is enough there to taste and to accomodate the amount that will soak into the cake layer above the filling, as I crumb coat and dam the layer the filling goes on? Is there an approximate thickness that one can go by? I appreciate any help you all can give!!
Thank you,
Practice and Patience

It's good that you dam the cake, and also be sure that it is a good solid dam. Then, put the filling in, but so it's just below the top of the dam - because the frosting will flatten-out a little. One main problem I even continue to run into, is that the juice from my strawberries will just leak out, no matter how good my dam is! So, I have stopped icing the bottom layer of cake - let the juice soak in & the cake is very moist (not sopping - if you have a lot of juice, don't do it that way). I also add more frosting around the outside, like a crumb coat - but I give the sides a few extra swipes to make sure & give it as much of a support & "barrier" as possible. Then I let it rest for as long as possible prior to final coating - preferably over night, if I still get any leaks, I "plug" them with icing, re-smooth & let sit, and it's usually fine.

Also make sure that you don't have a berry stuck on top of the dam, between the dam & top layer of cake, causing a hole - I always try to stick those back in, but it's so much easier to just pull them out & patch the dam.

Hopefully this was helpful!

Usually as long as your filling is not higher than your dam you will be ok. I start in the middle and put filling to about 1/2" from the dam, then when I put my next layer of cake it spreads to the dam and not over. Also you need to chill the cake before crumb coating/frosting, it gives it time to firm up settle. This is what works for me!

A good way to prevent filling from leaking out is to put a dam of icing around the outside of the filling before you put the next layer on.

when i put a dam around the cake.. i put a coupler in a bag and use that for the dam thickness. You get a pretty good sized dam around the cake and then I just put my filling in the middle and make sure to touch the dam all the way around. i've used homemade caramel, mousse and ganache filling before and NEVER had a problem with leaking..

hope this helps
b

I do it the same as bodaisy, but if I don't have enough icing in my bag, then I re-start & I think there are gaps, which is why I get leaks! I try to smoosh it together, but sometimes I guess I don't do it very well! I love using that thickness though, it's perfect.