I'm sure there are several topics already posted about this subject but, how do you get the strawberries not to "bleed" all over a cake? The last cake I did I sliced strawberries and they leaked very quickly. I put the cake in the freezer to stop the "bleeding" but my customer said the strawberries were "spongy". How embarassing!! 
Could someone point me to the topics so I can read about this and prevent it from happening again. I know people have trouble with them bleeding after being dipped in chocolate so I would like info on that too.
Thank you CC Buddies!
bakingupastorm
I talked to my grocer about this topic last month when I used fresh strawberries on my cake and he said to stop them from bleeding keep them refrigerated and unwashed until you are ready to put on the cake and make sure to dry them very well. Did you have to cut them? Any way you can keep them whole? Hope this helps...don't have a clue where the thread is.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-16419-strawberries.html+bleeding
Maybe this link will help you some.
i have done halved fresh strawberries on a buttercream cake, and chocolate covered ones. on the cake where they were cut in half, i put wax paper down under them, and tested it out at home, after about 4 hours, they started to bleed, and overnight, it turned into a big drippy mess. i took them with for the real cake, and didnt put them on until right before the ceremony, and it held up doo for about three hours*they forgot about cutting the cake!*
on the chocolate covered ones, i dried them VERY well, dipped them the night before, and placed them on the cake in the morning before delivery, and they made it okay.
I've seen this problem too and found that if the strawberries are even the slightest bit wet they will bleed even more and much faster. I don't even try to put sliced ones on top of my cakes for this very reason. I used whole strawberries on a recent cake and put a small square of wax paper underneath each one to help prevent any bleeding. Also, I don't put them on the cake until ready to serve.
Hope that helps.
KimAZ
I do chocolate covered strawberries all the time, and actually it has nothing at all to do with how much they get washed or the washing method. It does, however, have EVERYTHING to do with how they are prepared.
Strawberries have a natural "skin" if you will - on the outside where the seeds are. Organically speaking, this is their protection against the elements, as the seeds rely on the integrity of the inside of the berry as food for when they will sprout and become new little strawberry plants. If this skin is breached in ANY way, by cutting, slicing, removing the top, or even by bruising or the slightest nick, that will expose the inside to whatever it comes into contact with. If that happens to be sugar, or anything containing sugar, then it will start to break down the inside and make lots and lots of juice. I've seen a single strawberry produce as much as a teaspoon of juice all by its little self.
If your intention is to have the strawberries cut, you will need to macerate them first by tossing them with sugar and letting them juice their little hearts out, at room temperature is fine, fridge is fine too, for at least 4 but probably more like 6 hours. Adding lemon juice to this will help preserve the color and brighten the flavor also. When you are ready to do what you need to with them, you will need to drain off this juice very well beforehand. SAVE THE JUICE. It's excellent in lemonade, iced tea, or salad dressing.
If you want to use whole strawberries, you have to make sure they are pristine and unblemished. And if you can't get perfect ones, at least make sure that any blemishes won't come into direct contact with anything containing sugar.
In any case, bakingupastorm, I think it was the fact that your strawberries were cut that caused your problem. Once you allow the berries to give up their juice, you should be able to put them onto your cake without much incident!
Don't wash them by putting them in water... They're like little sponges. I wash them individually with a moist paper towel. Yes, it's very time consuming but it really helps with the bleeding.
I saw that on a food network show one time that was following a company that does chocolate confections including choc-dipped strawberries. Ever since I saw the show that's how I wash my strawberries, and they don't bleed! (when theyre whole, never tried sliced)
Thanks Delights for the comprehensive response...learned alot more from you about strawberries than I did from my grocer. Great info and will use this in the future.
You're welcome and hey what can I say - I'm a nerd! 
Well it looks like from everyones responses that everything that I could have done wrong I did!! LOL I was cutting my strawberries in half and stood them up on there ends around the bottom of the cake, little strawberry triangles if you will.
Thank you very much for everyones responses. I will be trying strawberries again now that I am armed with more knowledge about them! 
bakingupastorm
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