Hi! I want to apologize if this has been asked somewhere, but I didn't find it.

I'm new to cake making and am loving this new hobby of mine. I really just started in the past month or so. I have made a few cakes from scratch with Butter Cream icing and my own cream cheese. As I'm looking through the recipes on here (and getting lost in all of them...WOW ladies!), I'm seeing a lot of talk about adding a "filling" in between the layers.

How common is this? When I make my cakes, should I be doing this, as I've only ever put butter cream or cream cheese in between the layers. What dictates the need for a filling? Is it just a personal preference or what? Thank you all so much!

I believe that is totally a personnal preference, I only put fillings in (besides my frosting) when I am asked to.

I think its most common to use buttercream as a filling, but sometimes you (or a customer) just want something different. You can choose a filling based on your cake flavor, something complimentary. You can purchase pre-made fillings in a sleeve (soft, plastic tube) from Global Sugar Art. You could also make your own filling using jelly, pudding, peanut butter, etc. Look for instructions on here about how to make a dam with buttercream so that your filling doesnt run out the sides and get into your buttercream and show through.

The only time I ever use anything other than buttercream is when requested.
Too much fuss sometimes lol