Hi everyone,
I am making cupcakes for a ladies church function, and I need some advice!

I will be using the WASC recipe for the cupcakes, and I would like a raspberry or strawberry buttercream to frost them with. How do I add the berry flavour without adding actual pureed berries? I don't want chunks of berry in the frosting, just a smooth pink buttercream. (Also, I don't have access in my small town to specialty cake decorating items, just regular grocery store stuff!)
I thought that perhaps I could use some liquid from frozen raspberry punch (Minute Maid type stuff) to flavour the frosting?

Also, can regular pudding be used as a filling in cupcakes? I thought maybe I would pipe some filling into each cupcake, but would pudding be too drippy?

Thank you for all your help! I'm still quite new at this!

Dianna

I have taken frozen raspberries and boiled with a bit of sugar, pureed, then strained. I have used this as sauce over sorbet or cheese cake but it got all the chunks/seeds out and made a very good tasting syrup. I would imagine you could use it as the liquid in your buttercream icing too!

Yes, you can definitely make a puree with the berries and then strain it -- mix it with the bc, and you won't have any clumps in there at all, and it will taste great!

You can use pudding or there are some really good custard recipes that use pudding as a base. They would make a nice filling and don't require any specialty items.

Happy Baking!

Sarah

I made strawberry buttercream last year by adding strawberry extract (McCormick's brand). I got it from my local grocery store (small town, too). If you can't find any, you could add strawberry syrup ( the kind you pour into milk. That should work, too.

Yes, you can use pudding for filling in the cupcakes, you just need to refridgerate them.

Didn't someone mention using Jello powder ? Or do I have a couple of different threads mixed up ?

Thank you all so much for the tips!
I think I will try the pureed and strained raspberries.
I'm glad that I can use pudding for filling too. That will be easier than making a custard filling. This is all volunteering on my part, so I don't want to spend too much time & money on it.

I am interested in the Jello powder idea too! That sounds like something I would try out on a kids party cake first! I really want my cupcakes to be "grown-up"!

Thank you all again!

Dianna

I use the Instant pudding as a cake filling all the time. Everyone loves it!! Just cut back on the amount of milk so it is a bit thicker-less oozing out that way. Just mix it up, let it set up in the fridge for a bit and you will be good to go!

For grownups I'd start with real berries, not jello or punch or similar. You want the taste of real berries, not "berry flavoring." (We can all recognize berry flavored jello but it doesn't actually taste like real berries.)

Smuckers' seedless jams work very well mixed with buttercream.

I always make strawberry buttercream coz everyone loves it. I just add strawberry flavoring. It is very good with WASC.

I use Smooth-ez (McCain) in the frozen juice section...it is the base for a fruit smoothie and comes in mixed berry and a few others..it is pureed fruits without the seeds!!! Very, very yummy.

It is concentrated which gives it that real fruity flavour.
I had recently thought of using baby food fruit puree...anyone done that?

McCormick also makes a raspberry extract that's available in the grocery store. I've used it before and it is good.

Wow, so many helpful tips! Thank you all!

Jane K - I saw the Smooth-ez when I was buying the frozen raspberries today. I wondered what was in them. It's good to know that I could use that as a flavouring. I think they had a nice banana -strawberry flavour that would be yummy.

7yyrt - I didn't realize I could buy seedless jams. Another great idea!

mjoyce - great idea on cutting back on the milk to make the pudding thicker. I will definitely do that. I don't want the Church ladies getting pudding on their party dresses!

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!

Dianna

I also saw a pineapple coconut flavour that would be super for a summer flavour..that one is also in my freezer.

I use SMBC icing but I am pretty sure you could add it to other types...if you make your icing with milk/cream..watch for curdling...not sure it would but just thought about that....