I had a bridal consultation yesterday and was asked if I could make mandarin filling, strawberry filling, peach filling, raspberry filling and mango filling. She wants them all to be fresh and wants pieces of the fruit in the filling. She wants to pair it all with white cake and a creamy buttercream. I have the strawberry filling figured out already but I can not for the life of me figure out how to make the others. Does any one have any suggestions. Thanks!

Fresh mandarin orange puree/chopped-folded into BC. Same with the peaches. Same with the raspberries, OR use a raspberry preserve. Mango---I do this all the time. Cook down coarse chopped mangoes, mix with a mango preserve. Fold into your BC recipe. Now, I use SMBC which takes all things very well, I don't know how this works with shortening based BC, sounds icky to me. But it is a very simple process either way.

You DO NOT make all those fillings, unless she is about to pay for them. And she doesn't get to choose what she wants to try, unless she is about to pay for them. You pick 3 or 4 cake flavors and maybe 3 or 4 fillings, 4 fillings if your feeling generous. This is not a buffet. This is a tasting. If she likes your cakes then she likes they way you bake and should like anything else you bake.

Oh this is for a tasting? Hmmmmm. Yeah, not unless it's paid for. I didn't catch that. I would do stuff like this for an order OR for a group tasting. Yikes.

Hmmm. Could you make a large batch generic mousse of say cream cheese, whipped cream and vanilla pudding, then add preserves or purees of each fruit and small pieces of cut up fruit for each one to add to the plain mousse? I'm not sure about the mango as I have never used it before in my life...

Yea this is for a cake tasting that she is paying for. She is sticking to the whole cake being vanilla so she wants three different fillings for the tiers. She for sure wants strawberry but is unsure of the others but told me she wants fresh fruit fillings that are not mixed with bc's. she wants fresh because she wants some of the tartness of the fruit to cut the sweetness of the cake.

So let me throw this at you, what would you have spent and how mcuh time would you have taken to make all these fillings for one tasting? Then add the actual buttercream and cake cost and time. Now how much is that? And this is for a tasting for one person. Now how much is the cake they are trying to buy? Do you know their budget? Now, the cost that you have just put into the elaborate tasting, with real fruit, and mangoes and raspberries ain't cheap, for one couple, how mcuh has that taken out of your profits for that cake? Just something I want you to think about it.There is a reason why people have set flavors to their tastings. It's a business expense and we all want to keep our business expneses low. Just a thought.

The cake will be a simple square 4 tier cake with a bouquet of roses on the top that I will make out of gumpaste. The cake will feed 400 people and I have quoted her $1250. and she has ok'd it and left a down payment and she is paying for the tasting as well. The time to make these doesn't bother me since I'm a stay at home mom but all my daughters are in school so I'm basically home alone til they get home...lol.

I'm a stay at home mom as well and my time is ALWAYS of value, cause my time is MY time.

This is what I do I whipp pastry pride then I put a layer of PP and then I put a layer of the fruit like fresh strawberries, if if other than strawberry I use the cans like pineapple (my favorite), mango peach etc.just drain them and cut it in peaces. HTH

i would make a batch of smbc and then add the fruit, extracts, etc. i hope she is paying you well for this tasting...

JawDroppingCakes - if you go to ladycakes.com - there is a section there for tons of recipes for different fillings. I am sure you will be able to find some there that you could even scale down, that way you don't have a bunch of left overs.

I personally feel it is up to you and your client on how much (or if you so choose, not to charge) for your tasting. That isn't what you inquired about! Good luck wth finding the recipes you need.

I buy sleeve fillings from a local bakery supply. They have many different flavors. I usually just buy the pineapple filling and add drained crushed pineapple. It cuts a lot of the sweetness of the glaze/pineapple sleeve filling and tastes great. I know they have peach, raspberry, and a few others. I haven't tried those though. They are very inexpensive (about $2-$3 a sleeve). Then you could add in additional fresh fruit to them. I'm not too sure about mandarin filling but this is how I make mine. The one I make is just canned mandarins with drained crushed pinapple. I put a thin layer of cream filling (I use whip n top, not buttercream), then layer it with mandarines (cut up a little) and crushed pineapple. Then I sprinkle it with pecans. Everyone seams to love this one. I then take a piping bag with more whip n top and drizzle it on the top. It acts as a glue so that when the cake is cut it the top won't topple over. I buy these sleeves at Mr. Bakery in Weslaco. I know a store in downtown McAllen carries them too but they double the price. Hope this helps!

I buy sleeve fillings from a local bakery supply. They have many different flavors. I usually just buy the pineapple filling and add drained crushed pineapple. It cuts a lot of the sweetness of the glaze/pineapple sleeve filling and tastes great. I know they have peach, raspberry, and a few others. I haven't tried those though. They are very inexpensive (about $2-$3 a sleeve). Then you could add in additional fresh fruit to them. I'm not too sure about mandarin filling but this is how I make mine. The one I make is just canned mandarins with drained crushed pinapple. I put a thin layer of cream filling (I use whip n top, not buttercream), then layer it with mandarines (cut up a little) and crushed pineapple. Then I sprinkle it with pecans. Everyone seams to love this one. I then take a piping bag with more whip n top and drizzle it on the top. It acts as a glue so that when the cake is cut it the top won't topple over. I buy these sleeves at Mr. Bakery in Weslaco. I know a store in downtown McAllen carries them too but they double the price. Hope this helps!

I make all my fruit fillings basically the same way (except for that darn raspberyy I bought preserves for that).
Whole fruit, choped/pureed, sugar and a bit of water ,simmer and stir in cornstarch.
What you are left with is a thick chunky fruit mixture.
Don't know it this an actual method but it's how I've always done it.
I figured it works for gravy why not fruit.
Works with pineapple, strawberry, mango, orange,apple,blueberry and pear, I've yet to try it with other fruits.
For citrus (lemon,lime and grape fruit) I make a curd, I have a recipe if you need it.
You can always add extracts and flavoring as well.
When the fruit is not in season you can use frozen.

I make my fillings all pretty much the same way. I puree my berries, for raspberry i use frozen berries Then i use gelatin to thicken just add one packet of plain gelatin to 2 cups pureed fruit, heat until gelatin is dissolved.

For a cake tasting: 3 flavors MAX. None of this 5 and 6 flavors stuff. You don't need to kill yourself making 6 flavors of filling for a tasting that may not even produce an order.

Check the gourmet section of your supermarket for all-natural preserves. There are fantastic flavors like mango, pineapple, peach, mixed berry, etc. Melt down the raspberry preserve and run through a sifter or seive to get the seeds out. Makes a wonderful filling. Any of these fruit preserves make great fillings and you can add some additional flavor (cinnamon, flavored liquers, etc.) or fresh fruit to customize the fillings a bit more.

Let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out!

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions. With all this info I'm sure I can put something together that will be both easy and not too much work and left overs can be eaten by my daughters with their pancakes....lol

It sounds delish, both the cake and your daughters pancakes! LOL(Before you spend more money, both yours and the Brides it may be wise to see if the venue will accept a cake from a stay at home mom. Texas is very strict and many Venues demand to see licencing and insurance.)