This whipped mascarpone frosting is silky smooth, deliciously light, and the perfect consistency for filling and frosting cakes and cupcakes! It comes together so quickly with just five ingredients and I love that the dairy in the recipe needs to be COLD instead of room temperature. That means you can whip it up on a whim. If you’ve had whipped cream frosting before, imagine that but with an undertone of delicious mascarpone cheese. It’s amazing on my Orange Poppyseed Cake and Raspberry Pistachio Cake, and will pair well with so many Spring and Summer cake flavors (I’ll share some ideas below)!
Whipped Mascarpone Frosting Ingredients
This delicious frosting comes together with just five ingredients:
- Mascarpone Cheese. This is an Italian cheese that’s rich and creamy, complex in flavor, and perfect for stabilizing this whipped cream frosting.
- Heavy Whipping Cream. Also known as double cream, heavy whipping cream adds volume and fluffiness to this frosting.
- Powdered Sugar. A little powdered sugar sweetens the frosting while thickening it for stability. There’s not much powdered sugar in this recipe, so the frosting isn’t super sweet.
- Vanilla. Use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for the best depth of flavor.
- Salt. A pinch of salt balances the flavors perfectly.
How to Make Whipped Mascarpone Frosting
Step 1. Combine the mascarpone, vanilla, and salt. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or with a hand mixer and large bowl), beat these ingredients together on medium speed until creamy, about 1-2 minutes.
Step 2. Add the heavy whipping cream. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the heavy whipping cream slowly, then turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat until soft peaks form. This could take less than 1 minute, so keep an eye on it!
Step 3. Add the powdered sugar. Add the powdered sugar all at once and mix on low speed, then turn the mixer to medium for about 30 seconds. The frosting will look thick and silky.
Now you’re ready to use the whipped mascarpone frosting to fill and stack your cake layers, frost your cake, or pipe onto cupcakes! I recommend using it right away for the best consistency.
What is the Consistency of Whipped Mascarpone Frosting?
This whipped mascarpone frosting has the consistency of silky, stabilized whipped cream frosting. It’s thick enough to support cake layers as a filling (without bulging out from in between the layers!) and so easy to work with as frosting. It also pipes like a dream if you want to add a border or pipe it onto cupcakes! Because it’s not a “crusting” frosting, it won’t get firm when refrigerated. It stays soft and smudge-able, just like whipped cream.
Can I Make Whipped Mascarpone Frosting in Advance?
While you can technically make this frosting up to 2 days in advance, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will lose some air/thickness in the storage process. For the silkiest frosting and best consistency for cake decorating (especially piping!), make it right before you’re ready to use it. The frosting comes together so quickly so it’s worth waiting to make it.
Whipped Mascarpone Frosting FAQs
- Is whipped mascarpone frosting thick enough for filling a cake? Yes! I used it as filling and frosting for my orange poppyseed cake and it upheld the cake layers beautifully as filling. It was also a dream to work with for frosting the cake. So stable!
- Can you recommend a substitute for mascarpone? If you can’t find mascarpone locally, the best substitute will be an equal amount of full-fat brick-style cream cheese (NOT the spreadable kind in tubs).
- How do you pronounce mascarpone? It’s maa-skaar-poh-nay.
- What is the flavor of whipped mascarpone frosting like? This frosting is rich and complex, yet somehow super light. Imagine whipped cream frosting with a rich undertone of delicious mascarpone cheese.
- Is whipped mascarpone frosting heat stable? It’s not the best frosting choice for hot or humid climates since it’s basically whipped cream stabilized with a high fat cheese, so it will melt quicker than your average buttercream frosting. If you’re serving a cake or cupcakes with this frosting in hot weather, I’d recommend refrigerating until you’re ready to serve.
- What if my frosting look curdled after adding the heavy cream? If the whipped mascarpone frosting looks curdled or separated, it means you over-beat the frosting. You’ve got to keep a close eye on this one. To fix it, turn the mixer to low speed while you slowly add more heavy whipping cream (about 1 Tablespoon at a time) and watch as it returns to a silky smooth consistency.
Cake Flavors to Pair with Whipped Mascarpone Frosting
This whipped mascarpone frosting is so light and will pair well with most Spring and Summer flavors! Here are a few suggestions from my blog:
- Orange Poppyseed Cake
- Pistachio Layer Cake (or as the frosting for Raspberry Pistachio Cake)
- Bakery-Style White Cake
- Lemon Layer Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Carrot Cake
- One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
I can’t wait to hear what you pair this whipped mascarpone frosting with!Let me know if you make it in the comments below (be sure to leave a star rating!) and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me if you post a photo. I love to see what you create with my recipes!
Whipped Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 Cup (8oz, 227g) mascarpone cheese*, cold see notes for substitutes
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 Cup (240ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 2 Cups (240g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Make the frosting right before you're ready to use it (otherwise it may lose air and become softer if stored for too long). Place the bowl of your stand mixer (or other large metal bowl if using a hand mixer) into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to chill before starting the frosting.
- Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the mascarpone, vanilla, and salt together in the chilled bowl at medium speed until creamy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and add the heavy whipping cream slowly, then turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat until soft peaks form. You should be able to dip a spatula into the mixture and a peak forms but slightly droops when you hold the spatula upright. This could take less than 1 minute, so keep a close eye on your mixer! If it looks curdled at this point, it means you've over-whipped. See the troubleshooting tip in the notes section below for the fix!
- Once you've reached soft peaks, add the powdered sugar all at once and mix on low speed until incorporated, then turn the mixer to medium-high speed and whip for about 30 seconds longer, until the frosting is thick and silky. Use right away for the thickest consistency and best results, especially if you're piping with it! Otherwise, you can store this frosting in the refrigerator for up to 2 days in an airtight container, but it may lose some air and deflate a little in the storage process.
Notes
- Fill and frost a 3-layer 6-inch cake or 2-layer 8-inch cake with a semi-naked finish.
- Pipe a swirl onto 15-20 cupcakes
I had the same problem with the frosting not being thick enough to pipe. Flavor was great but I was disappointed. I have worked with marscapone and whipped frostings before so I went into the project with a little confidence. I watched the videos, and recipe followed (cold cold cold), I intended to use this immeadiatley, trying to rescue with more confection sugar.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m sorry the consistency wasn’t thick enough for piping. I’ve always had great results with this recipe but I’ll be revisiting it to see if I can make it more stable.
The flavour of this was great! I found that my frosting wasn’t thick/stable enough for piping, since the piped portions of my cake eventually started drooping and looked like they were melting. It was unfortunate visually, but my guests didn’t mind because the flavour was still amazing! What could I have done to make it better for piping?
Hi Maria! I’m glad you loved the flavor of this frosting and sorry you had some trouble with the piping! Did you store the frosting in the refrigerator after making it or use it right away? I find that as long as your bowl is chilled, all the cold ingredients are cold, and you use the frosting right away (so it’s the most aerated), it will be plenty thick for piping. If you store it in the refrigerator, it’s still great for filling and frosting but tends to lose some air in the storage process so it would make sense if this is what caused the drooping. If you did use it right away and it didn’t seem thick enough, you could add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up next time. I think 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup extra powdered sugar would do the trick.
Thank you for all your great recipes of which I’ve made several. I’ve made this frosting three times. The first time was perfect but the last two not so much. It turned out thick and chunky even after I tried the heavy cream remedy. I think next time I will gently mix in the confectioners sugar by hand then give it the final high speed whisking until the consistency is right. Thanks again!
Hi Aly! I’m so happy you’ve been loving my recipes! It sounds like the frosting got over-whipped those last times. I wonder if the mixing speed was too high for that final bit. Next time after adding the powdered sugar, I would try turning the mixer to medium speed (I usually turn it to 6 or 8 on my KitchenAid stand mixer) and keeping a super close eye on it. I have a short video of the process and showing how it looks when I turn the mixer off here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYpmv9ThG0q/ I hope that helps for next time and keeps it consistent!!