HI!
I'm looking for some easy cake fillings in a variety of flavours that are readily available. i've never tried using pudding, but I think I did hear someone say it can be done.
Does anyone who uses pudding for their fillings have any do's, don'ts or suggestions you can give me about using it??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I have. I found (at least in my locale) that you have to mix them a bit thicker, as for pie or even thicker. Then they go soft easily, so you have to keep the cake regrigerated... not for spoilage, but for keeping the pudding from going liquid. Your cake will absorb a bit of it making the cake moist.

I've also used jams successfully.

Ok if I wanted to make a cake with filling, would I be able to "inject" the cake in areas with the filling as well as in between? would it work ok and ice smoothly????

When using pudding for filling- make sure you have a good enough dam and that you keep your filling level lower than your dam. I have had pudding sneak out on me and then it got mixed in with my icing when I was smoothing out the cake
You can see it on one of my cakes in the photo gallery. It's the good-bye cake that has the candy on it. The cake is kinda sloppy because I forgot that I was supposed to make it for my husband's work- so I was in a hurry when I did it.

pudding in the middle of a cake sounds delicious! how exactly do you do it? (i need details & recipes if you have em

Thanks for all the suggestions. I kind of thought what cali4dawn said might happen. I know when I leave pudding out it does get runny. Oh well, any other suggestions for quick and easy fillings??

I have frequently used pudding as the filling in my cakes. I mix the pudding following the directions for pie filling on the box, and go slightly short on the milk quantity. Mix and let it set up. Then dam your first layer well (no gaps) and spread the pudding. As stated above, this will absorb a little into your cake, and you need to keep it refrigerated. My favorite pudding for this is the lemon flavored pudding, it tastes 'custard-like' to me. I also really like pistachio pudding between 2 layers of chocolate fudge cake! YUM!
Midwest mom, PM me, I'm in IL too!

Mix up a mousse and then add in some buttercream icing and it will taste good and stiffen it up.
http://www.ladycakes.com/Recipes/Fillings/fillings.htm -this is ladcake's website, I highly recommend the White Chocolate Mousse Ganache (it's labeled as Wh. Mousse Ganache). IT's really yummy. Does not separate hardly even after sitting out, and mixes great with buttercream icing

I have used pudding cups as a filling. They don't require refrigeration. I just used my stiff consistency frosting for a dam.

When I use pudding, I just use the pudding cups. That's what my wilton instructor suggested to us in class I. The consistency is perfect, and they're inexpensive and easy. I just use them if I am doing a cake for a favor or need something quick, usually just for family ( dh's family does NOT appreciate my cakes anyway, so no way am I going to go to all the trouble of making a cream filling from scratch for a FREE cake for them!).

Anyway, I think they still taste really good, and I always get a ton of compliments... everybody likes the pudding.

Melissa

okay, so if I wanted to make a chocolake cake with chocolate pudding filling, I could just use a chocolate cake mix, doctored up a little bit & then use chocolate pudding for the filling?? What kind of icing would you use? any suggestions for the doctoring up for a choc. cake mix? thanks for all your help guys!!!

Use milk, sour cream, or coffee creamer.
Go out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore and buy "The Cake Mix Doctor" book by Anne Bryne for 13.95 US. It has a TON of chocolate cakes that are doctored up cake mixes. I highly recommend this book, it has a nice layout, color pics of everything in the book right up front, handy tips, and a bunch of icing recipes. Anne Bryne has another book that is just chocolate cakes made out of doctored cake mixes, I don't know how much that one is, but that's my next book purchase.

Do a search on the cake mix doctor's web site. There are some recipes there. You can find the cake mix doctor here http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/

Also read this thread: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-579.html
It has all kinds of tips in it.