I know this is a stupid question. Lol. But I have never put a filling in between layers of cake. I have never even thought of doing it (amateur). But I'm skeptical of trying flavors. I'm not fond of raspberry, I'll eat it, but it's not preferred. But it sounds really good with cake and buttercream icing. And I want to try it.

However, if I go with filling I will be using this cake for my daughter's first birthday party. So I would like to have a filling that everybody can agree on.

What could I use that is pretty tame? And if I do use filling. What do you use? Do you get like pie filling or is there actually a cake filling that you can buy?

I prefer to make my own just because I know what is going in it, but I can understand a filling could be difficult. Does anybody have any easy homemade recipes? Homemade is not a necessity though! I just would like advice of which way to go. I would love to try it one day.

What flavor cake are you baking? What flavor buttercream are you making?

I like fresh strawberry filling, I use some strawberry glaze with it. Bavarian filling is good too, but I like it with chocolate cake.I wish I would have recipe, I think you can find it on cc.

What frosting and/or filling to use is usually based on what cake flavor you've chosen.

(But that's not always the case, as there is NO wrong "favorite flavors" combination. So if you really like peanut butter cake with pink lemonade buttercream frosting and cherry custard filling that's fine.)

The WASC cake is very popular with either an almond or vanilla buttercream paired with a strawberry or raspberry sleeved pastry filling.

Here's a thread that has all the info you need to make, decorate and assemble tiered/stacked/layer cakes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

The above thread also has popular CC recipes for crusting American buttercreams, several types of fondant and doctored cake mix (WASC and other flavor variations) and so much more! (There's also a link to sleeved pastry fillings.)

Link to CC recipes section filling recipes:

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/category/fillings

Link to LadyCakes recipes:

http://www.ladycakes.com/Recipes/RecipesIndex.htm

HTH

I'm sure you'll find a lot of great ideas in the threads listed above, but I thought I'd share my personal favorites.

You can't go wrong with a sleeved raspberry filling. Goes great with many flavors of cake.

My personal favorite is a custard filling with fresh bananas. You can make your own custard, or can use a sleeved filling. In a pinch I've even used snack pack vanilla pudding cups with the bananas (I know, scratch bakers' skin is probably crawling LOL). I don't do this with complicated/tiered cakes, since the bananas will only stay fresh for about a day before browning, but it's so yummy.

Good luck and have fun

If you don't want a straight fruit filling, my favorite is a mousse filling with berries, or oreos, chocolate,chopped candy bars, it could go on and on. Look in the recipe section, you will find many recipes. I usually use sweetened whipped cream with a instant pudding, or cream cheese, and whatever else you want to add. It makes the whipped cream a thicker consistancy. I like this combination because it cuts the sweetness of buttercream.

Not lame...don't be afraid to play with something you might like...I've made things like almond (hit or miss for most people) and people who typically don't like almond like it...so you never know!

Here's a link to a list that was put out a while back of hundred of different variations for filling. Just be sure to choose something that doesn't require refrigeration if you can't put the cake in the fridge.
If you can, any mousse is a great filling...use whipping cream and a box of jello pudding mix. That's how I started making fillings way back when...and it was a great place to start. Good luck!
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4f9hbq_46cs9f28fs

Thank you everybody for your ideas. I'm making a three tier cake probably just vanilla flavored cake and regular buttercream. So I would imagine any flavor filling would be good. I mean they all sound great. I haven't just exactly made up my mind of what I'm going to do exactly. I might just change everything up. I don't know yet. There is just so many things that can be done to a cake!

Vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream, you say?

You could use:
Vanilla Buttercream
Almond Buttercream  
Hazelnut Buttercream  
Lemon Buttercream
Orange Buttercream  
Mint Buttercream  
Crème Bouquet Buttercream  
Crème Royal Buttercream
Brown Sugar Buttercream  
Italian Meringue  
Whipped Cream  
Cream Cheese Icing
Lemon Curd  
Lime Curd  
Orange Curd  
Raspberry Curd
Nutella  
Dulce de Leche  
Poppyseed  
Strawberry
Raspberry  
Blueberry  
Cherry
Sour Cherry-Kirschwasser  
Apricot
Peach  
Apple  
Cranberry  
Pineapple
Penuche  
Chocolate Chip Buttercream  
Mint-Chocolate Chip Buttercream  
Orange-Chocolate Chip Buttercream
Dulce de Leche Buttercream  
Lemon Buttercream with Lemon Zest  
Orange Buttercream with Orange Zest  
Coffee (Espresso) Buttercream
Mocha Buttercream  
Peanut Butter Buttercream  
Raspberry Buttercream  
Strawberry Buttercream
Peach Buttercream  
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Buttercream  
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Buttercream  
Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Buttercream  
Peppermint Stick Buttercream
Vanilla Bean Buttercream  
White Chocolate Buttercream  
Chocolate Buttercream  
Chocolate-Almond Buttercream
Chocolate-Orange Buttercream  
Chocolate-Mint Buttercream  
Maple Buttercream  
Mango Buttercream
Guava-Passionfruit Buttercream  
Fudge  
Coconut-Pecan  
Penuche Pecan
Pomegranate  
Guava  
Mango  
Passionfruit
Plum
Dried Fruit and Almond Melange (apricot, date, fig, prune)
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting  
Vanilla Custard  
Vanilla Bavarian  
Milk Chocolate Ganache  
Dark Chocolate Ganache  
White Chocolate Ganache (perhaps with liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Frangelico?)  
Strawberry Bavarian
Raspberry Bavarian  
Peach Bavarian  
Cherry Bavarian  
Banana Bavarian
Pineapple Bavarian
Mandarin Orange Bavarian
Pineapple-Mandarin Orange Bavarian  
Cookies n Cream Bavarian  
Chocolate Bavarian  
Coconut Bavarian
Peanut Butter Bavarian
Almond Cream  
Pistachio Cream  
Lemon Chiffon  
Raspberry Mousse
Strawberry Mousse  
White Chocolate Mousse  
Milk Chocolate Mousse  
Dark Chocolate Mousse (perhaps w/ liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Frangelico?)
Espresso Mousse
Mocha Mousse
Chocolate Custard      
Fresh Peaches
Fresh Strawberries   
Fresh Raspberries
Mascarpone Custard
Cannoli Cream  
Cheesecake Cream  
Chantilly Cream  
Spumoni Fruit Cream
Chocolate Chip-Toasted Almond-Maraschino Cherry Bavarian

To answer the question as posted in the title...

Anything. Anything at all.

If you are just using a basic buttercream, then asking what goes with buttercream is just like asking what goes with vanilla. There's almost no wrong answer.

- Leisel

That's a lot of flavors! Lol. Yea I mean I know the possibilities are endless. So I'm pretty excited to test around and see what I like. Thanks everybody.

Prterrell: Ha, ha, ha - I'm rollin' on the floor with laughter! Have a "few" flavors! Yep - just about anything you could think of will work, however just discovered another delightful filling at Sams. Dark Cherry/Raspberry/Blood Orange Jam/Preserves - not too sweet and absolutely delicious!

Actually, I just copied and pasted my fillings list from my pricing sheet.

I decided to do strawberry cake. With a buttercream cream cheese frosting. The other day I made just a basic buttercream frosting and added half a block of cream cheese and it was so good! No filling this time for this cake.