I did cupcakes for a bridal shower on Friday and the coordinator asked for fresh strawberries to be added to the buttercream. I added the strawberries to the buttercream and then packed everything up to go to the venue to frost the cupcakes. When I got there and went to frost the cupcakes the stawberries had appearantly bled into the buttercream and the consistency of the buttercream had changed 100%...the buttercream was really thin and I couldn't pipe the rosettes. The flavor of the buttercream was great but the consistency was terrible. How do you add fresh fruit to buttercream so that it doesn't change the consistency of the buttercream? Thanks in advance for any help!!

You'll probably get a bunch of different answers, but I puree the fruit and add it to the icing before I add my liquid. That way I'm sure to get the consistency I want.

Here's a recipe for a strawberry cream cheese I've tried.
8 oz. room temp. cream cheese
4 T. room temp. butter
1 T. strawberry puree
4 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

This recipe comes from the new "cake mix doctor book". I found your question interesting because I had made her frosting out of her old book which called for 3/4 c. strawberries. Boy. was it weepy. A big puddle right in the middle of my cake. She had to admit in the new book(pg. 33) that she had to "adjust" the recipe. The new one is much better, but if you want more strawberry flavor maybe you could add some LorAnn's Strawberry or strawberry estract.

'Extract", wow I can't spell and it really isn't all that late in the evening.

Preserves work well mixed in buttercream.

Thank you all for your responses. I have used pureed fruit and prserves in buttercream and cream cheese frosting before, infact that is the way usually do it. This bride was perfectly clear that she wanted fresh strawberries chopped and put into the buttercream. I was just wondering if there is a way to do this without changing the consistency of the buttercream so I would know for the future. She was so insistent on having the fresh strawberries folded in the buttercream and I had never done it before I didnt know what would happen, now that I know I can explain that to a client beforehand...it was such a mess!

Just be aware that when sugar hits fresh fruit it begins to macerate which causes it to release juice. Try it on fresh strawberries. Cut them up and sprinkle a little sugar on them. Within an hour you have soft strawberry soup.

Not that this can't be done. It's done all the time. But be aware of this reaction and proceed accordingly.

Hmm, I haven't tried this for buttercream specifically, but what I usually do when using fresh fruit in general is "prep" the pieces to dispose of extra liquid.

Dice the fruit and toss it with a couple tbsp of sugar and let it sit in a colander for an hour or so, set over a bowl. Most of that extra liquid that messed up your perfect buttercream will drain away. The additional liquid could even be "blotted" away.

You could then fold them in and it will definitely help the texture issue.

Wow Sosasha that is a great tip!!! I never thought about doing that but it makes so much since! Thanks!!!

This weekend I added some strawberry preserves (about 1.5 tbsp) to my cream cheese buttercream that I had on hand, and it was a complete mess. It was so runny, but I had to use it because I had no other filling to use. Good thing I was making it for family!

I won't do that next time!