Strawberry Filling for Cake (No Leaks!)

I knew what I wanted from the strawberry filling I made for the wedding cake before I even started - fresh strawberry flavor, lightly sweetened, and not thin enough to leak.  That last part was very, very important to me.  How embarrassing would it be to make a lovely, delicious cake, only to have pink streaks through the icing because I wasn't careful about the consistency of the filling?

So I looked.  And I looked.  And my eyes started to bug out of my head.  Two cups of sugar per pound of berries?  Was I making strawberry filling or a sugar bomb?  If the point of using a specific icing (more on that later) was to avoid the sugar high most cakes would give, then why on earth would I add two cups of sugar to beautiful fresh berries?  I was making filling, not jam!  So...back to square one...

...And a filling I invented myself!  I knew, as I said, what I wanted - fresh berries, lightly sweetened, no leaking.  And so I took matters into my own hands, and what you see in the pictures is where I arrived.  To say that the filling really did taste of strawberries is an understatement.  I am not sure I have ever modified a strawberry (is that a thing?  Modifying strawberries?) and yet managed to keep them as true to the source as possible.  After all, though, when you have berries coming from your own backyard as lovely as these:

 

Why mess with a good thing?

Strawberry Filling for Cake (No Leaks!)

Proudly developed by me!

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1-2 teaspoons water

4 pounds strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon butter

1 dash lemon juice 

Stir cornstarch and water together in a bowl.  It is perfectly fine to add slightly more water if necessary to suspend the cornstarch and make a pourable paste.  Place all ingredients except the cornstarch mixture in an eight quart stockpot.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Add the cornstarch mixture.  Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, for one minute.  Remove from heat, pour into a separate bowl (it will splash; wear old clothing!), cool, and refrigerate.  Use to fill a cake.  Or pour over shortcakes.  Or eat with a spoon.  I won't tell anyone if you do!  (I might have done so once or twice myself...)