Hello! I posted this on the Gourmet Flavors thread, but no one replied so I'll try again. I'd REALLY appreciate some help on this! Thanks!
1. I have a customer who wants fresh strawberries and buttercream filling in a cake. I've put fresh strawberries in a cake before and they got very liquid-y. It made the cake mushy even! How do I avoid this?
2. I have another customer who'd like passion-fruit flavored buttercream filling. I can't find passion fruit extract, jam, etc. Does anyone have a suggestion for me???
from Food and Wine website (this is your standard curd filling just using passion fruit)
FILLING3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup passion fruit nectar or puree
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla beansplit, seeds scraped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
In a saucepan, whisk the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the passion fruit nectar, egg yolks and vanilla seeds and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until thick, 6 minutes. Remove from the heat; whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Scrape the filling into a glass bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
or if you can get some passion fruit and drop it in your chopper.
In answer to your other questions.. try putting a thin layer of buttercream on your cake before you layer your strawberries. I do that with my fillings so they don't seep in the cake.
I do keep a cake with cream cheese in the fridg. doesn't have to stay there the whole time but I don't let it sit out over night.. there might be others that say they do though...
I have only done real strawberries one time and I had pretty good luck.. not a lot of seep.. maybe it has something to do with how ripe the strawberry is?? I am not sure..... which I could help more... don't use "real" very much .. prefer preservatives instead I guess!! Somethings not right about that !!!!
There is a technique used in pie making to prevent this as well. Melt some strawberry jam in the microwave. Paint the lower cake with the melted jam before damming and filling. The jam will cool and act as a barrier to the juiciness of the berries. Also, combining a cooked puree with the fresh berries will help to contain the extra berry juice. I use the puree recipe from Joy of Cooking fresh berry pie for exactly what you are doing.
There is a technique used in pie making to prevent this as well. Melt some strawberry jam in the microwave. Paint the lower cake with the melted jam before damming and filling. The jam will cool and act as a barrier to the juiciness of the berries. Also, combining a cooked puree with the fresh berries will help to contain the extra berry juice. I use the puree recipe from Joy of Cooking fresh berry pie for exactly what you are doing.
That's a great idea. 
I love fresh fruit and would love to try this.
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