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Mascarpone Frosting made with mascarpone, heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and almond and vanilla extracts is a lusciously smooth creamy frosting.
It is stable and holds its shape at room temperature and remains soft when refrigerated. It is a very delicate frosting, however, and works best as a cupcake topper as it will not provide structure to stacked cakes. Similar in look but very different in taste when compared to Cream Cheese Frosting or Italian Buttercream Frosting.
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Mascarpone frosting is my new favorite frosting. This heavenly frosting has changed me forever.
You see, this frosting is light and fluffy and smooth. It’s everything you want a frosting to be. This frosting can be shaped and spread however you like and will, too, hold it’s shape.
I thought it would harden or change when refrigerated. Nope! We had extra after frosting our lemon cupcakes so I stored the leftover frosting in the refrigerator. I ended up eating it on a graham cracker and it was downright heavenly. Don’t judge me! In fact, I might just make an ice box cake out of it this coming summer! It would also be a wonderful filling for my Carrot Cake Cookies.
This frosting would go perfectly with any cake or cupcake. I can’t wait to top my heavenly homemade chocolate cupcakes with it!
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What is mascarpone?
I have a friend who helps me cook. When I told her we were making mascarpone frosting, she asked “what’s that?”.
Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. This is definitely not to be mistaken by our American cream cheese. They are quite different.
Mascarpone cheese is made from cow’s milk. It is off-white in color and is spreadable. If you’ve ever enjoyed tiramisu, it was most likely made with it. I also use it in my cannoli filling with mascarpone. I love spreading it on raisin toast. It melts like a cross between whipped cream and butter, but isn’t exactly like either.
Mascarpone can be used in a wide variety of ways including desserts like cheesecake or adding richness to a risotto.
Now that I’ve used it in frosting, I swear it will be my favorite frosting recipe to make from here on out.
Is there a substitute?
In my opinion, no. Nothing is quite like rich and creamy mascarpone. If a recipe calls for mascarpone, I won’t try to substitute.
That’s not to say it’s not possible.
If you’re really in a pickle and are right in the middle of making a recipe that calls for mascarpone, and you just realized you either ran out or it went bad, there is a way to cheat.
The work around is to combine a brick, or eight ounces, of softened cream cheese with a quarter cup heavy cream and two tablespoons sour cream. The cream cheese and sour cream must be full fat. Actually, don’t break my heart and use low or nonfat anything. Gross.
Does it taste just like mascarpone? Not exactly, but it’s close enough if you need a quick substitute.
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese chilled, I used Trader Joe's brand, results may vary with other brands
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream chilled
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- RECIPE TIP: For best results, chill the mixing bowl in the freezer prior to making the recipe. Also, ensure both mascarpone and heavy cream remain refrigerated right up until the time you start mixing.
- Place the 8 ounces mascarpone cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and start beating on medium speed. While beating, add the 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract followed by the 1 cup confectioners sugar. Scrape sides and continue beating until light and fluffy. DO NOT OVERMIX as it will cause the frosting to curdle.
- With the mixer running on high speed, slowly add the 1 cup heavy whipping cream until the frosting becomes light and fluffy, about 1-3 minutes. DO NOT OVERMIX as it will cause the frosting to curdle.
- Spread onto cake or cupcakes. This frosting also holds its shape incredibly well, so it’s easy to pipe on using a decorating set. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or two 9-inch rounds.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I make a version with unsalted butter added. It’s amaxing. The trick I believe is to have all cold ingredients at room temperature. This helps to stop the ingredients splitting.
It’s the only icing I will use now.
HI there, would this recipe work with honey instead of sugar? and if so, j\how might one approach adding it?
thanks
I haven’t tried it but I think it might work! I would start with small quantities and taste taste taste! If you make it, will you let me know? Thanks!
I would love to use this for my daughter’s strawberry birthday cake. Do you think powdered freeze dried strawberries could be added to make it strawberry flavored? Thanks!!
Absolutely!
Does the mascarpone need to be room temp.? I found some other recipe stating it should be chilled unlike for example cream cheese.. I always use it room temp. and it gets this weird consistency similar to quark.. thanks!
You know, I think I did pull it right from the refrigerator. I know you want your whipping cream chilled. I will update the recipe for the mascarpone to be chilled too.
tried this today and like several other commenters it curdled. i whipped it forever and nothing changed. i didn’t alter the recipe at all. i tried to save it by adding more sugar and it did come together more but it was runny, far too runny to count as frosting, more like a very thick glaze…
Were your mascarpone and whipped cream chilled? I’m wondering if because of the summer heat, people are having issues. It was super smooth when I made it.
Hi Krissy
I am so intrigued by your recipe. I am definitely going to try it.
My question for you is whether the mascarpone frosting tastes like cream cheese or if it tastes more like vanilla? I am one of those people who loves cream cheese – on my bagel – not in my desserts.
I see so many recipes for cream cheese frosting and cheesecakes that look so good, but I won’t even try because of my aversion to that cream cheese taste.
If it does have a slight cream cheese taste do you have any suggestions as to how to cut it with additional sweetener or extracts?
Thanks in advance for your time and response.
Hi Kelly, I think the mascarpone much more resembles cream than it does cream cheese. Cream cheese is thick and tangy and I don’t feel the same way about mascarpone. Hope that helps!
Hi. This looks great – just what I need for my sons birthday in a couple of weeks. I’m in the UK, and always get a bit confused on the conversion to UK measurements. Is the cup of confectioners sugar 8 ounces? And then is the heavy whipping cream 240ml ? Thanks
Hi Anna, Confectioners sugar is a bit counter intuitive. There are about 4 1/2 ounces in a measured cup. You are correct on the whipping cream – 240mL. Enjoy!
Hi Anna,
I always make it this way(double batch) and it turns out great:
500 grams mascarpone
500 ml heavy cream
220 grams icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Hi Krissy,
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I am hoping to try this soon on a birthday cake. Will the frosting pipe well if I add gel food colouring?
I haven’t tried it, myself, but this frosting was so dependable I think it would hold up well.
Hi, Krissy, I made this recipe a very long time ago and it was fabulous! I can’t praise it enough. I didn’t have any issues with the frosting curdling, but wouldn’t it be safer to whip the cream and cheese separately and just combine the two?
You’re probably right and I might try that next time.
Hi, just wanted to check if this has to be refrigerated? I want to put it on cupcakes but hate how the fridge makes them hard, but surely the marscapone can’t be stored at room temp? Thank you!
Whether it can or it should is unknown to me. I will tell you that I did store it at room temperature, as I do my cream cheese frosting, and it was fine for days and I never got sick. I will also tell you that this mascarpone frosting is still wonderful when refrigerated. It’s not like a buttercream where the butter gets hard.
Followed the recipe exactly and it curdled.
Hi Kristina, Be sure not to overmix.
I wish I had read the comment stream before trying the recipe, because once it curdled I figured that I had over-beaten it, so I stopped. It really doesn’t spread well at all and doesn’t stick to the cake. It also separated, so there is some liquid that pooled at the bottom. You might want to let people know that the frosting will go through this phase and to keep on beating it.
The flavor is great, though (how could you go wrong)!! I mashed a cup of raspberries that I combined with a cup of the frosting and used it as filling on my lemon cake.
Hi Carol, Thanks for your reply and I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. I’m going to make a recipe video for this frosting so I can show people how I do it. I’m not even sure what my trick was, but it turned out perfectly smooth. Will have to figure out what’s going wrong for others!
OK, so I’ve made this recipe 3 times this month (I fill cakes with it) and it was always perfect until today. So I over-mixed and it curdled. I figured out there was no saving it so I just kept on mixing on high to see what happens. At one point the mixer started spattering all over – the mix was separating, fat and water. So mixing it long enough it separated completely and it produced the most awesome, tiny bit sweet, butter! It has almost completely the butter consistency, a tiny tiny little bit more grainy but hardly noticeable. It is in my fridge now and I wonder whether I will try to make an American buttercream with it. Or else will use it on the toasts of my kids. So people don’t throw your curdled substance. Keep on mixing and make butter 🙂
Best. Comment. Ever. Love your tasty mistake!