Can Strawberry Buttercream Stay At Room Temperature For 1 Wk

Decorating By Pearl645 Updated 2 Feb 2012 , 1:14am by icer101

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 9:45pm
post #1 of 19

I have a 4 tier wedding cake to do and the bride asked for strawberry buttercream filling.


I was going to boil down fresh strawberries with corn starch and sugar and allow to cool then add into my buttercream recipe.

I need to do this and fill the cakes one week before the wedding date.

Is this permissible or can anyone recommend how to make a SAFE strawberry buttercream that can stay at room temperature?

Thanks,
Pearl

18 replies
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AZCouture Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 9:54pm
post #2 of 19

So you're also leaving the cakes out at room temp for a week?

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sillywabbitz Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:02pm
post #3 of 19

Use a good strawberry jam, heat it to liquid form and let it cool to room temp. Use that instead of fresh and it's stable. 5 days does seem like a while though.

FYI regular smuckers isn't strawberry enough. Use the Orchards Finest by smuckers or the Paliner All Fruit.

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:31pm
post #4 of 19

I am baking the cakes and crumb coating as well as putting on a 2nd layer of thicker BC on the cakes and putting in airtight boxes one week before. Is that too long to leave a vanilla pound cake out for? I was thinking of using strawberry extracts with some strawberry jam or maybe just the strawberry extract. I just read on CC that strawberries in BC will get bacteria and mould.

What advice do you have on all of this then?

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:32pm
post #5 of 19

All 4 cakes will be covered in fondant after the 2nd thicker coat of BC.

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AZCouture Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:33pm
post #6 of 19

Personally, I think the whole thing sounds bad. A whole week? Sorry...it's just yucky to me. icon_sad.gif I guess you must have a really good reason for it....?

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:36pm
post #7 of 19

How long would you bake and fill a vanilla pound cake in advance for a 4 tier wedding then? It's just me working on the cake and it is a lot of work. Normally I do fruit wedding cakes but this time it is a pound cake. I really am just trying to get the correct way to do this. The wedding is in April so I have time to gather the necessary info.

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AZCouture Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:46pm
post #8 of 19

I would bake it on Friday morning or Thursday evening at the earliest for a Saturday wedding. Fill and ice on Friday and probably finish most of it late that night and early the next day.

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 10:47pm
post #9 of 19

Thanks

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leah_s Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 11:05pm
post #10 of 19

I'd bake the cake ahead and freeze, pull it out on Thursday to fill and crumb coat and weight the tops for settling. Then finish it on Friday.

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 11:08pm
post #11 of 19

Thanks Leah. Can you tell me more about what you use and your method to weigh down your cakes. I know it helps to get rid of buttercream air bubbles. Do you use saran wrap and foil for your cakes while they are warm or once cooled to go in the freezer?

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tonedna Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 11:14pm
post #12 of 19

I wouldn't do it either. One thing is baking the cakes 5 days earlier and putting them in the fridge
to rest, another thing is finishing them. Starwberries are very delicate and go bad really fast.
Even if you crumbcoat the cake, box it and refrigerate in a crumbcoat, the cake can get
unstable being so many days with the filling in it and stawberries tend to ferment.

That's about the only flavor I like to do lat minute

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Pearl645 Posted 1 Feb 2012 , 11:20pm
post #13 of 19

Thanks Edna. From the posts here, I have decided to use a strawberry extract in my BC without the fresh strawberries. I feel more comfortable with baking a week in advance, wrapping my cakes and freezing till I am ready to fill and crumb coat. I actually didn't notice a difference in my cake taste and moistness when I froze and thawed.

Normally I don't refrigerate my cakes because of the condensation in the BC and I had a bad experience where my fondant melted and dripped off a refrigerated BC cake due to the change in temperature. I later learned I was supposed to leave the cake out at room temperature to allow the condensation to happen.

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Texas_Rose Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 12:07am
post #14 of 19

You mentioned using fondant and airtight boxes. The two don't go together. The fondant will melt in an airtight box, use a cardboard box instead...but a week is a very long time.

Is there any way you can bake, fill and crumbcoat a week in advance, freeze, and then thaw and decorate at the last minute?

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Pearl645 Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 12:16am
post #15 of 19

Hi yes. Leah_s advised me correctly. Bake 5 days before, properly wrap cakes and freeze. I would take out the cake on the Thursday before the Saturday wedding and fill and ice. Fondant the next day and stencil. Thanks for all the advice everyone. I make my fondant from scratch because Satin Ice is the only fondant we have here and it doesn't work well for me so I've gone back to scratch fondant which is very time-consuming. Hence why I wanted to bake well in advance.

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BlakesCakes Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 12:47am
post #16 of 19

Well, you can certainly bake, fill (I use good quality strawberry preserves alone or mixed w/ BC), crumb coat, settle, ice, box, wrap box in several layers of saran wrap, and freeze weeks in advance, if necessary. Leave wrapped & boxed in fridge to defrost for 24 hrs. before allowing to come to room temp on the counter for a few hours. Unwrap & apply fondant & stencil. Easy peasy.

Rae

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Pearl645 Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 12:52am
post #17 of 19

Hi Blakes, thanks for response. What is the difference if cakes thaw on the counter at room temperature than if allowed to thaw in the fridge?

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BlakesCakes Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 1:03am
post #18 of 19

When possible, it's better to be able to allow the cake to change temps slowly, going from frozen to cold to warm.

Rae

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icer101 Posted 2 Feb 2012 , 1:14am
post #19 of 19

Hi, Leah_s gives great advice. I always heed it. I always say, i know a lot, but i don,t know everything. So i am open to listen to someone that i know , knows what she is talking about.

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