Any-Fruit Cake Filling Recipe
The perfect cake (or pie!) filling is one that never runs and lets the fruit be the star of the show. Sweet and tart, it tickles your taste buds and keeps you coming back for more!
The secret ingredient to this recipe is frozen fruit (cue the audience’s gasp!), and I think that’s why I love it. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, every summer we do our best to stock the freezer with a bounty of locally-picked berries and orchard fruit. My dad used to take us berry picking when we were young, and we always managed to fill an entire block freezer with strawberries, raspberries, and the tiny, sweet, wild blueberries from Lac St-Jean (a personal favourite). We used these fruits to make healthy breakfast smoothies, so these pie fillings represent my way of keeping our family’s tradition alive. A wonderful aspect of the eastern townships is that it’s a fertile valley filled with small-scale, sustainable farms. When local fruits are in season, we’re hardly a twenty-minute drive from u-pick heaven. If you are in the area, you should check out this new comprehensive guide to local farms and fares.
When the freezer’s stocked with fruit, that means I’m only a thawed bag away from a tasty pie (or more nutritious fares for the health-conscious). This recipe will work with anything from berries to apples and is amazing in layered cakes or baked in buttery pie crust.
Ingredients
425g frozen fruit
150ml juice from thawed fruit
90g sugar
20g cornstarch
Directions
Thaw fruit in a strainer fitted over a bowl, to catch the juices.
Check the quantity of juice: either press the fruit against the strainer to release more juices, add a bit of lemon juice or water to make 150ml of liquid.
Put 115ml of juice and the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
In a small bowl mix the remaining juice with the cornstarch and whisk.
Add a bit of boiled juice to the cornstarch mixture, whisk and then pour it all back into the saucepan.
With the heat still on high, bring the mixture to a boil while whisking energetically.
Turn the saucepan back and forth and make sure to whisk into the corners, to ensure the mix doesn't scorch.
As the cornstarch starts to gel from the heat the mix will turn to a very satisfying glossy filling.
Take it off the burner and fold in the thawed fruit.
This filling is perfect in pies but also as a filling for a layered cake like this over-the-top chocolate cherry vanilla cake, or pipped into doughnuts or muffins.