Mascarpone Frosting

This best mascarpone frosting, also mascarpone icing, is light, fluffy, and smooth and is a nice variation on the classic Chantilly cream. It is perfect for serving fresh fruit, piping cupcakes, filling and frosting cakes, and topping pies.

Mascarpone frosting is firmer and creamier than sweetened whipped cream thanks to the fat of mascarpone, but it is lighter than chocolate ganache and buttercream.

Jump to:

• What is mascarpone frosting?
• Why you should try this recipe
• Ingredients
• Recipe variations
• How to make mascarpone frosting
• Expert Tips
• Storage instructions
• How to use mascarpone frosting
• How to fix mascarpone frosting
• Recipe FAQ
• Love cream frosting recipes? Try these next!
• Recipe card
• Comments

It doesn't replace Chantilly cream but makes a stable light frosting and completes it by adapting better to the topping or filling of pastries. 

Here is a super quick and easy recipe to make mascarpone frosting, also known as mascarpone whipped cream frosting or mascarpone Chantilly cream, as long as you pay attention to the details.

What is mascarpone frosting?

Mascarpone frosting is a luscious and incredibly versatile cream made by whisking heavy cream, mascarpone, and confectioners' sugar. It can be infused with various notes such as vanilla, coconut, and almond.

Multiple names, including whipped cream with mascarpone, frosting with mascarpone cheese, and mascarpone cheese frosting, often refer to mascarpone cream cheese frosting.

However, it is important to understand that each name relates to the same - mascarpone frosting.

Why you should try this recipe

• The mascarpone frosting recipe is made with only three ingredients in 10 minutes.

• Mascarpone and whipped cream blended together perfectly pair into a delicious cake and cupcake filling and frosting.

• Mascarpone frosting makes a stable frosting without butter. There is no need to stabilize whipped cream additionally: mascarpone brings firmness to the perfect frosting due to its fat and thick body. Read more about how to make stable whipped cream.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Heavy cream is an essential ingredient for making the recipe. Look for "heavy cream" or "heavy whipping cream" with at least 30 % fat content in the grocery store. Unfortunately, you cannot substitute it with whole cow's milk or half-and-half.

Heavy cream must be cold being kept in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, better 12-24 hours.

• Mascarpone, an Italian cream cheese with at least 40% fat content, is the star of the recipe. Use it straight from the fridge (some recommend bringing it to the counter 15 minutes before you start). Opt for some trusted brands of creamy Italian cheese, such as BelGioioso, Vermont Creamery, or Galbani.

You can swap mascarpone with cream cheese (e.g., Philadephia), but it will turn out to be making cream cheese frosting.

• Icing sugar (powdered sugar, confections' sugar) is preferred for making mascarpone whipped cream. You can use the store-bought or homemade. Just process granulated sugar in a coffee grinder or a food processor.

In the absence of icing sugar, use caster or baker's sugar, which are superfine types of sugar. But avoid brown sugar as it is unsuitable for this particular recipe.

Recipe variations

• Flavoring: Flavor your mascarpone cream with scraped vanilla seeds, vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste. Choose other flavorings such as coconut, almond extract, dark rum or limoncello, citrus zest, herbs, or spices (cinnamon powder, pumpkin spice, etc. ).

You can even add chocolate shavings to the ready cream. But if you want to make a chocolate frosting, discover this chocolate whipped cream. It is made with real chocolate instead of unsweetened cocoa powder.

• Coloring: Color the mascarpone cream frosting with dry food coloring added at the beginning of whisking or gel food coloring added at the end of preparation.

• Savory mascarpone frosting: Omit sugar in the recipe and add salt, black pepper, and dill at the end of whisking. Then serve it with smoked salmon loaf: it's the best!

• Heavy cream and mascarpone ratio: You can play with cream and mascarpone proportions depending on your preference: more or less firm cream. In the end, it is up to you to find the texture that suits your needs.

How to make mascarpone frosting

The key to successful mascarpone frosting is cold utensils (cold bowl and beaters) and very cold heavy cream.

Chill utensils

Put a bowl of an electric mixer and beaters or the bowl of a stand mixer and the whisk attachment to the freezer for at least 10-15 minutes.

Add ingredients

Pour the chilled heavy cream into the bowl and assemble the mixer with cold beaters or the whip attachment.

Add the cold mascarpone (you can loosen it a bit in advance by crushing it with a spoon or a spatula) and icing sugar.

Soft peak stage

Start whisking on low speed to mix ingredients together. The mascarpone whipped cream will first be at a liquid stage that will turn into soft peaks.

Pro tip: Watch out for splashes of the cream during whisking. Cover the tank with a clean kitchen towel to avoid messing up the work surface.

Medium peak stage

Continue to whisk the mascarpone mixture, gradually increasing the speed of the mixer. The cream will get to the stage of medium peaks.

Pro tip: Whisk the cream frosting at medium or medium-high speed at maximum, checking the cream's consistency each 2-3 seconds. There is a high risk of overmixing.

Stiff peak stage

Finally, it will turn into firm cream with stiff peaks. Stop whisking with the right cream's texture and consistency. Don't continue to beat "in case" or "what if I can whip a bit more." There is a risk of overwhipping the cream and turning it into butter.

Pro tip: Due to the high-fat content of the mascarpone cheese, it takes between 2-3 minutes to make the perfect mascarpone frosting. The "whipping time" also depends on using a hand or stand mixer.

Test the cream

The mascarpone frosting is ready when:

• you see a tiny point called a "bird's beak" (bec d'oiseau in French) at the tip of the whisk;
• there is a well-defined trace that does not close made with the whisk, spatula, or finger;
• you turn the bowl upside down, and the cream remains in the bottom of the bowl without moving.

Stop whisking with the right cream's texture and consistency. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag to fill or decorate your favorite cakes or cupcakes. Or cover the bowl with a plastic film in contact and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.

Expert Tips

1. Don't omit the chilling utensils before you start.
2. Choose an electric hand mixer over a stand mixer, and whisk over the paddle attachment since there is a chance of overmixing the cream with the powerful stand mixer. You can use a hand whisk with less chance of overwhipping.
3. Opt for a metal bowl: it keeps the cold better, an important condition to make the perfect mascarpone whipped cream.
4. Avoid over-whipping the cream: watch out for the right consistency; otherwise, it splits into butter and buttermilk.
5. Get creative with flavoring the cream using vanilla, coconut, or almond extract.

Storage instructions

Keep the mascarpone frosting in a sealed pastry bag or a covered bowl with plastic wrap in contact with the cream's surface. This simple step prevents undesirable fridge odors from affecting the flavor and prevents the cream from drying out.

Store it at room temperature for 30 minutes and 48 hours at maximum in the refrigerator.

Note: It is recommended that frosting and decoration of desserts be completed just before serving, as the cream tends to dry out, diminishing its aesthetic appeal rapidly.

Can you freeze mascarpone frosting? While it is advised against freezing plain mascarpone frosting, desserts filled with the cream can be safely frozen for up to two months.

Please note that it is important to maintain a freezer temperature range of -0.4°F to 5°F (-18°C to -15°C) for optimal results.

How to use mascarpone frosting

Stabilized mascarpone whipped cream is so versatile that you use it as:

• mascarpone cake topping,
• mascarpone cake filling,
• mascarpone cupcake filling.

Also, discover other uses of mascarpone frosting:

• garnish a Number cake,
• make Eggless Tiramisu,
• fill Choux a la Cream,  
• accompany Fondant au Chocolate,
• fill layer cakes (e.g., Strawberry Shortcake)
• pipe cupcakes,
• frost cakes,
• garnish sponge roll cake,
• fill French crepes,
• accompany waffles and pancakes,
• serve with French hot chocolate or ice cream,
• etc.

Or, quite simply, enjoy fresh fruit with this mascarpone whipped cream.

How to fix mascarpone frosting

My mascarpone frosting is runny

Reasons: The possible reasons for runny mascarpone icing are:

• not chilling the utensils;
• using unchilled heavy cream;
• choosing low-fat content ingredients (mascarpone cheese, cream);
• overusing liquid flavorings.

Solution: Continue to whisk the frosting a bit longer until the right cream's consistency (stiff peaks).

Next time, respect the chilling time of utensils and ingredients, opt for high-fat content of mascarpone cheese and heavy cream, and carefully use flavorings.

My mascarpone frosting is grainy

Reason: This happens with overwhipping the cream that comes to "slice" with small grains.

Solution: If the mascarpone frosting turns into butter, there is no other solution than to remake the cream. However, you can try to revive your frosting by adding a bit of cold unwhipped cream (little by little) and whisking simultaneously. 

Recipe FAQ

Love cream frosting recipes? Try these next!

I hope this recipe will become your new favorite frosting recipe among the many other delicious cream recipes on the website.

• Homemade Whipped cream
• Chocolate Whipped Cream
• Chantilly Cream
• Bavarian Cream

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.