Hey Friends!

I need help! I hope ya'll can help me. My Mom is staying w/ me for a few days, while she is here we are making my Mamaw (her mom) a b-day cake. We baked the cakes today. The recipe is called Strawberry Cream Cake. They turned out great! The help I need is w/ the filling.

The filling calls for 1 small jar of strawberry jam, 1 small jar of MM Fluff, & 1-8 oz pkg cream cheese. No problems.

My questions is... If we torte & fill the cakes today w/ the filling will it still be good on Sunday? My Mamaw's party isn't till 2 pm on Sunday. My Mom leaves tomorrow & she wants to help w/ every step of the cake. The bottom cake is 16" round & won't fit in my icebox. I have one of those side by side iceboxes.

So do ya'll think it will be ok to finish the cake today or should I wait till maybe Sat?

Thanks sooooooo much!!!!!!!

Oh, PS...

My Mamaw turns 89!!!!

can you borrow a neighbors fridge? I wouldn't leave cream cheese out until sunday.

OOOOH, that recipe sounds super delicious, can you share it?

Wandy

wandy27, I will PM the recipe to you later ok. I'm up to my eyeballs in cake right now, LOL!! I will be glad to share it!

I understand, don't worry I'll wait patiently

Wandy

I don't think I would make this one ahead unless you can refrigerate. In fact, I would likely still not make it this far ahead even refrigerated, but a lot depends on how watery your jam is.
Just my opinion,
hugs Squirrelly Cakes

It really depends on how cool your kitchen is or whereever you are going to keep your cake. It should be in a cool and dry area. I made a pound cake with raspberry ganche icing, which is made with heavy cream and filling was made with raspberry jam and 8 oz cream cheese with a stick of margarine. Rest of cake was iced with the ganche and I had it sitting out cover on a cake dish in my kitchen of cause it was rather cool to almost cold cause I have the ac turned on. I made the cake on a Saturday for Sunday and the cake was very good and tasty. See it all depends on the heat and huminity of where the cake is going to at. You can put the cake in refrigerator lightly covered and this take cake out the morning of the event and fill it and icing it and then do the decors. This is base on my experience. Hope this is of some help.

You guys can maybe make all of the icing and fillings and put that in the fridge. then on Sunday your mom could come back over to finish the cake with you. That way everything is ready.

Most ganaches are heated cream and whatever, which means they hold up well at room temperature. I often make a cream cheese icing that I keep cakes iced with on my counter, but that is for personal use. When I use the same icing for the public, I refridgerate it. What frightens me a lot on these sites, is people are baking and selling to the public. Now the rules for commercial bakers are a lot more stringent due to liability concerns. For example eggs cannot be used if they were at room temperature for more than 20 minutes.
So what you are saying 2Cakes, I agree with for personal home use, no question about it. My house is a constant 70F and most things can hold up well at that temperature, except of course custard fillings or whipped cream.
I am finding recently, that many folks think that it is ok to make up cakes close to a week in advance or store cakes at room temperature for 4-5 days, or fill cakes with fillings that should only be refridgerated for a maximum of 2 days, things like that.
When you are dealing with guests or the general public, you are open to liability should someone get sick or have a bad reaction. Children and the elderly and diabetics are particularly sensitive to food poisoning issues.
Generally, you shouldn't be selling a cake to the public that is more than 3 days old as this is not considered fresh by commercial standards. Most dairy based fillings should be no more than 24 hours old. Cakes should not be frozen for more than 1 month.
There is a huge difference between what we think will be ok to eat and what is actually acceptable to be serving to guests or selling to the public.
I suspect that this is why, in so many areas, it is illegal to sell to the public unless you are a licensed baker. There are so many food handling and safety issues that many folks are just not aware of.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

This is such an important issue, and am glad you cleared this up for all of us. I've read alot a people making their cakes and leaving them at room temp. for 4, 5 or more days. That sounds scary. I'm not a professional and I don't sell my cakes, still. I'm planning on goin to culinary school and get licensed. I make cakes for fun and for myself, and I wouldn't eat a cake that's been out of the fridge for so much time. I think it's a big risk people run selling cakes that old to the public. Just my personal opinion.

Wandy

Well that is the thing. I know my house is set at 70F. I know a cake with regular buttercream will keep probably 4-5 days on the counter and I haven't got sick from this. Haha, the odds of a cake lasting that long here, are pretty slim to none, though. But I have also noticed when we have a heat wave that even though I have central air and the temperature is set at 70F, when the humidity is very high and stays that way for more than 2 or 3 days, well the house feels different. I can see the difference in how a loaf of bread keeps.
I likely have a cast iron stomach too and not too much will make me sick. I guess that is the risk, we may be fine with things but someone with a compromised immune system may react differently.
I remember when the meringue icing recipes became very popular, more so I think in the last year or two. I remember questioning the safety of the uncooked egg whites and the general attitude was that pouring the hot syrup over the raw egg whites was enough to raise the temperature of the egg whites to 160F and to kill off any bacteria. I had a few disagreements on that one, but generaly eventually accepted it. I still tended to recommend people use a candy thermometer to check out the temperature.
Well recently I am seeing a lot of warnings on this. Apparently most of the heat dissipates into the bowl and therefore the syrup does not heat the egg whites to that all important 160F temperature necessary to kill off bacteria. Now less than 1% of all eggs are any risk for this bacteria, that is true. But still, we now know for certain that any of the meringue icing recipes made in this way pose a risk, no matter how small it may be. So now I see many sites warning folks to use pasteurized egg whites in these recipes.
I guess the best thing we can do is to try to make ourselves aware of any possible food handling or food safety issues.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

SquirrellyCakes, thanks for the information, cause I'm with you on the safety issue of any diary or pershiable ingredients such as fruits, creams, etc. made for cakes and to either sell or given to the public or family gathernings. I so well aware of this and I'm extremely cautious about how I handle things and what I keep out when it comes to me versus the public, families and friends. I went to a picnic and it was a hot afternoon and what I saw could not believe it, but I personally did not dear to eat any desserts that were made with any diary products cause all the desserts were sitting in the sun and if you were to pick up a cupcake, the icing was just sliding down the side of each cupcake and the same with the cakes covered with buttercream icing. I said something to a few people at the picinic and they totalling agree with cakes and desserts made with these products should not be in direct sunlight. I did not even take a chance to eat any of the desserts. What I made, I kept in the frigerator and took it out prior to leaving my home to go to the picinic and as soon it was put on the table, it went so fast that i did not have to worry about how long it was sitting out and knowing how I feel about anyone getting sick; it would not have beening sitting out in the sun for any length of time cause I would have had it moved to a cooler or a shaded area. What I made was an upside down pineapple cake and I would say it was gone withing 30 minutes. SquirrellyCakes, I can't agree enough with you cause everything you said is absolutely correct. I don't even allow food to sit out in my kitchen for a period of time, I just wait to food cools down and into the frige it goes. Thanks again SquirrellyCakes for your insight. Have a nice day.

2Cakes, it does get scarey sometimes, doesn't it? Well at least it wasn't potato salad, haha!
I live in fear of offending anyone with these comments and that really isn't my intention. I would hate to see anyone hit with a lawsuit over anything like this.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Hey Ladies!

I didn't think the cream cheese would be ok so I just mixed the MM Fluff & strawberry jam together. There really wasn't much of a difference in taste either. The cake is torted, filled & iced! Tomorrow we decorate!!! Yea!!!! Looks like ya'll got into a big discussion, LOL!!

Interesting to read~

Thanks for the info~

I am sure your cake will be terrific tina they always are.....

Hey TC...

I would love the recipe for that cake as well!! (no rush) Have you ever tried the MM Fluff with any other flavor Jam?? I wold have never thought to use Fluff!

THANKS! T

I promise I will post the recipe tomorrow ok I'm decorating it today! Hopefully I'll have pics by Sunday evening! Pray for me!!! I need help getting this cake smooth!!!!!

I PROMISE I'LL POST THE RECIPE TOMORROW!

TO: Wandy27 & Scoobam.......

Here is the recipe for the cake:

Filling:
1-8oz pkg cream cheese softened
1 small jar MMFluff
1 small jar strawberry jam

Mix togther. But not too much or you'll get liquid.

Strawberry Creme' Cake:

1 strawberry cake mix
1 can strawberry nectar
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix all the above ingredients together. Bake cakes at 350* till done.

The cakes didn't rise as well as the usual cakes I makel. I made 8", 12", 16" in 3" cake pans. The 8" rose perfect. The 12" didn't rise much at all. It rose only to 2". I did that one over & added more batter. I thought it might cook over but it didn't. It rose only to the top of the pan. The 16" rose fine because I added more batter to that too. We went ahead & torted the 12" that didn't rise just so we could add filling & taste it. The cake was very wet but cooked. I wasn't thrilled w/ it. The cream cheese never mixed w/ the jam & MM fluff. It had little chunks of cream cheese in the filling. I even whipped the cream cheese before adding the other stuff. Since we couldn't use cream cheese because it wouldn't stay fresh we used the filling mixture w/out it. It tasted great. Out of 5 points I'd give this cake a 2.

I think the wet was from the strawberry nectar. If you try it don't add the whole can of nectar.

OH.. I did make a smaller cake w/ pineapple & cocount nectar & added coconut flavoring. It was delicious!!! I recommend that cake!! Very tasty!! It would taste great w/ a pineapple filling! YUMMY!!

Hi Turtlelady,
Some things don't mix up well unless you change the order you mix them in. I think I would try it a few different ways. Leave the cream cheese to come to room temperature and then beat it really well. Try mixing in the Fluff first before adding the jam. Still chunky? Well then try mixing the Fluff with the jam and then adding it to the cream cheese. Still chunky? Then try the jam whipped up into the cream cheese before adding the Fluff. Still doesn't work? Haha omit the darn cream cheese, haha!
I have a few recipes like that where if you mix in a certain order, either the cream cheese or shortening does that. Very annoying!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes