Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi,

I’m looking for some advice on what i can and can’t put under fondant please?. I’m aware you can’t put fresh fruit but I see a lot of people using coulis in there cakes as a filling. Is this ok as it still is fresh fruit, would it not spoil?Also can it be used in the cake batter?

Many thanks

Hi lecia

A lot of people buy in shelf stable coulis from pastry suppliers. These products can be used in cake fillings in the same way as jam. They can also be used in the cake batter. If you’d like to make your own for the purposes of cake filling it would be necessary to make a reduction of the fruit and sugar by bringing it to the boil and boiling off half the water. This will kill off all live bacteria and some spores but it won’t destroy all spores. However, sugar acts as it’s own preservative improving keeping properties. If you add a tablespoonful of a high proof complimentary alcohol spirit, this will also act as preservative. Hope this helps.

I use mango and passionfruit coulis quite a bit as a filling with buttercream in one of my cakes and I buy the shelf stable stuff in a bottle.
Yvonne x

Ah brilliant, thankyou ever so much. I love the flavours of fresh fruit and cake combined (so much better than flavourings). I shall go off now and have some fun experimenting. You’ve made my day and once again many thanks 🙂