Hi All,

I want to fill a cake with strawberry filling and in the past I mix my homemade strawberrry Jam with buttercream to thicken it up and fill from there. Is it possible to add unflavored gelatin to thicken instead, without the jam seeping into the cake?

When I was a kid my grandma would buy sleeves of strawberry jam from a bakery and fill cakes with that. Unfortunately I think that bakery is no longer around and would like to achieve the same look with my homemade jam is instead of a whiteish pink filling.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know the answer to your initial question (I'm not sure if gelatin will thicken it enough).

My first thought is to make a strawberry curd. Add your strawberry jam in place of lemon juice. This will affect the color because of the yellow egg yolks.

If you don't want the extra egg yolks, corn starch or arrowroot would also work without affecting the color, as would a cooked flour paste (flour + water) or roux (flour + oil/butter).

Hopefully someone else on the board will know about the gelatin.

AIt is possible to add gelatin, or extra pectin I guess. The hazard would be in when too much is added, gummy bear filling may be your result. Unless that is what you are going for......I would go the curd route suggested earlier. If you want to keep the jam as is, use a very thin coat of your buttercream to sandwich the jam from the cake to prevent seepage.

Sure you can! I can't help with the quantity, but I can explain you how. 

Put the gelatin sheets in some COLD water for about 5-7 minutes. In the meanwhile put a part of jam into a pot and warm it up on the stove. It must be hot or the gelatin is not going to melt.

Squeeze the gelatin in your hands and add it to your hot jam, wisk and add to the rest of the jam.

Or you can hydrate the gelatin, squeeze it and melt in the microwave for few seconds, than add it to the jam!