I'm making a birthday cake for my daughter for this Saturday. I've never made a filled cake before. I am planning to use this strawberry filling (http://www.food.com/recipe/strawberry-filling-10045) and frost with vanilla buttercream. How far in advance can I fill the cake with the strawberry filling and then frost the cake? Will I need to refrigerate it if I fill it the night before? If I fill it in advance, will the filling soak into the cake? Thanks!

I've used that filling recipe several times. I do refrigerate the cake overnight, but I've let it sit out for several hours (during an all afternoon party) and it was fine. I've also put on a thin layer of buttercream before adding the filling and that works great. One time I forgot and it soaked in a little bit but not enough to be a problem.

Edited to add that I've made this the day before several times and it worked out great. Leftovers were good for at least two days and might have been longer but cakes don't last that long around here!