Rose’s Strawberry Conserve(TCB) cooks the berries with sugar and water, removes the berries, and then the instructions say to use a wide diameter pan to cook off the liquid as much as possible so that cooking time is shortest and, thus, the best flavor is preserved.  (Hopefully I’ve remembered all this correctly.)

Anyway, would it be best, then, to use the microwave reduction method?  I thought maybe this was an updated method that wasn’t used in original TCB days, but would be advisable now.

Also, is this thick enough to use on split cake layers without it becomeing liquidy in the cake?  I’ll be freezing and thawing the composed cake.

Finally, if using it for this purpose, is it better to use the additional sugar (as in the ‘spread on toast’ method)?

With thanks!

—ak

Which recipe are you using?  Is it the strawberry conserve or puree?

I haven’t made the conserve but I’ve made the puree many times.  It is too thin to use by itself as a filling.  You’ll need to add gelatin or universal pectin or something like that to firm it up. 

Perhaps someone else who has made the conserve can chime in on that?

Oh, so sorry! It’s the conserve not “compote.”  I edited my original post to reflect this. I’ll happily use whichever (thickened puree or conserve) that will work for the purpose.  Thanks for any thoughts!

Anne, See my latest blog post and Cook’s Illustrated for their latex experiments with strawberry and corn starch & pectin.

Thanks, Kyle!

Well, your wonderful post lets me know what NOT to use!

Your tart is beautiful, BTW.  Sorry it didn’t come out as you’d hoped, but it is surely lovely to look at!

Hi Anne,

I make the strawberry conserves every year during strawberry season and it is hands down the best jam! I have discovered the best pot for this process is actually a straight-sided skillet; the whole process goes pretty fast that way. I don’t have a microwave, so have no idea if that would work.

Just recently I used the the strawberry conserves (canned last June) to fill the white velvet cake.  The conserves were the “spread on toast” version with the extra sugar. The conserves are syrupy so I used a frosting dam around the outsides and we ate the cake about 12 hours later with the cake at cool room temperature the whole time. The liquid didn’t seep into the cake and the tart, bright tang of the strawberries was awesome!

Here’s a link to a couple of photos, neither are that great but I hope you find them helpful.

the cake filling
the cake, cut

Thanks, Evil Cake Lady, Julie and Kyle!

I now know that I think I’ll just use mousseline between all layers, whether 2 thick or 4 skinny. 

ECL, I think I will have to sometimes use the conserves the way that you did as the solo filling for the whole cake.  They look so delicious.  What was the “Crispy White Frosting”?  I must admit, my curiosity is piqued!!

BTW, I looked at more pics, and your mayonnaise cake is so beautifully decorated, with the way you “spatchula-ed” and swirled the ganache and did the raspberries on top.

Your baking is very, very pretty!!!

Thanks Anne!

My best friend (Cookie) loves the kind of frosting made with powdered sugar, butter, and water or low-fat milk because it develops a crust after sitting at room temperature for awhile. It is super-sweet, with about 4 cups of powdered sugar to one cup of butter! I call it the crispy frosting.

By the way, since you are looking for a strawberry filling/frosting, have you thought about the mousseline in Heavenly Cakes made with the strawberry butter? The strawberry butter is like apple butter, that is, slow-cooked and concentrated strawberries and it made the most heavenly buttercream. You can order the strawberry butter from American Spoon Foods.

Thanks, EKL!

Oooooh…I like the name crispy frosting, but my teeth feel coated just reading about it!!!! 

I actuallhy have a big heaping batch of strawberry mousseline in my freezer now for the cake! Instead of using Spoon’s butter, though, I used freeze-dried strawberries.  Their complete lack of liquid lets you add what amounts to a ton of strawberries to the frosting for a very powerful, very fresh strawberry [or other fruit] flavor.  I was thinking of using something in conjunction with that (sort of like the lemon butter is used in Woody’s Lem Luxe is used between some layers).

I’m happy to just hang with mousseline.  I’m semi-rolling around juicing strawberries and making my own strawberry butter, but I sort of doubt I’ll do it.  At some point, I’ll have to take the time to understand the thickening business with corn starch, agar agar, reducing juices and all that jazz.

—ak