I have a cake to do this weekend with a strawberry filling. In the past I have done rasberry filling using polaner all fruit. A cake fell apart on me during delivery and it was a disaster! I don't know if it had anything to do with the fruit filling but I have been hesitant to use fruit preserves since. What is the best way to use a fruit filling? Thanks you for your responses in advance. The information I have received here has been so helpful!!
I've never used purchased fruit preserves, so I don't know if they compromise the structure of a stacked cake. I use the following recipe for strawberry filling and it's very good. If you're willing to take (or make) the time to do it from scratch, here it is: 2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries (stemmed and roughly chopped), 1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch.....put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook (let mixture come to a boil) about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add a splash of fresh lemon juice. Stir several times while the filling cools. Good luck! P.S. I love the beach-themed anniversary cake in your photos!
Make sure not to put to much gel based fillings between layers they tend to be not as stable and slide.
You'd probably need at least 2 batches for a cake that size. I always torte the cake, that is, I make a dam of buttercream at the edges before filling. You can purchase 2 regular sized baskets of strawberries and that will make twice the originally posted recipe (of course, double the other ingredients). No, I don't add water....if you find that yours is too firm to your liking, I would imagine that adding a bit of water would be okay. However, I would not do this after it has been removed from heat and cooled. (I would think that it might separate.) You could probably add the water in the final stages of cooking if it appears too thick. Mine comes out fine the way the recipe is listed. The strawberries break down in the cooking process and liquify somewhat when doing so.
One more thing...I meant to say hulled rather than stemmed (strawberries)in my original reply....it was too early for me to be totally coherent.
Here is another filling suggestion:
You can still use preserves if you like, but just add some whip cream and buttercream icing to the preserves. don't forget the icing dam though.
I read on here somewhere (can't remember where now) that for a good easy fruit filling to take one jar of preserves and heat it and then add a box of jello (flavored with the same fruit). It is delicious and I would think it would be more stable than just straight preserves.
Someone on here advised me to heat a jar of Polanar all fruit and mix a box of strawberry jello. It's delicious and easy. I use it all of the time in my cakes, but I "butter" the layers with buttercream then dam the edges and fill with the all fruit and jello mixture. It's delicious and I have no problems with sliding at all. I just make sure to let the cakes "rest" before covering with fondant. It looks very professional and neat when you cut the cake.
Oh...the mixture is rather grainy when you first mix it, but as it sits it blends and looses the grainy texture.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%