Home > Italian Mascarpone Cream Recipe for Christmas 2024
Author: Veruska Anconitano, Award-Winning Food Travel Journalist, Sommelier & Outdoor Lover
About the author
Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
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Table of contents
- Is this the recipe to make stabilized mascarpone whipped cream?
- Ingredients for 6 people
- Instructions
- notes
- What is mascarpone?
- Are mascarpone and cream cheese the same thing?
- Substitutes for Mascarpone
- How can I be sure to make a perfect mascarpone cream?
- Can I add alcohol to my cream?
- How long will this cream last?
This mascarpone cream recipe is one of our favorites of all time: being so common in Italy as the cream for the tiramisù, we’ve eaten this cream our entire life, and we still adore it. It’s not that sweet, it’s silky, it’s light: perfect to top a cupcake, a cake (our mums make it for the pandoro cake at Christmas!), or to eat by the spoonful.
It’s hard not to think to mascarpone when it comes to frosting or cream for a cake; we usually consider this Italian cheese as quintessentially needed for baking. It’s fat but silky, it doesn’t lose consistency when whipped, and it gives everything a better taste.
Is this the recipe to make stabilized mascarpone whipped cream?
No, with this recipe, you will prepare a pure cream with just three ingredients: eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese.
To make a stabilized mascarpone whipped cream, you must combine mascarpone cheese and sugar, then add heavy whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form. The result is a perfectly stabilized, soft, and also light frosting for your sweet treats.
Our traditional Italian version of the cream made with mascarpone can also be used as a frosting, and it’s lighter than the one with the whipped cream.
If you’re looking for the best mascarpone cream, we got you covered. Here’s our Italian cream recipe, the one we use at home, the traditional Italian one, the one you’ll love as much as we love it.
Ingredients for 6 people
- 3 eggs
- 6 tbsp of sugar
- 500g of mascarpone cheese
Instructions
- Beat the egg whites until stiff;
- Add the sugar and the yolks;
- Stir in the mascarpone cheese and beat until creamy;
- Use the cream to fill your cakes or as a individual dessert for dinner parties.
notes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
We seriously can’t even describe in words just how good this stuff is. But we want to give you more advice on how to make your cream at home and how to make sure it will become a staple in your kitchen.
What is mascarpone?
Mascarpone cheese is considered a fresh cream cheese: it’s theoretically spreadable, but this is not the way Italians use it. The high butterfat content (up to 75%) is the perfect reason why this cheese is mostly used for creamy recipes!
In the Eighties, Italians used to add it to pasta because of its silky texture, but today it’s used as the main ingredients for the cream of every type, especially the one used for the tiramisù.
Are mascarpone and cream cheese the same thing?
No, mascarpone is sometimes wrongly considered cream cheese, but it has twice as much fat as cream cheese.
The color is also completely different: the cream cheese is pure white, the mascarpone cheese is yellow-y because of the butter.
Substitutes for Mascarpone
Because of its texture, cream cheese is not a substitute for mascarpone. The best alternative is without doubts English clotted cream, which has the same composition.
You may have heard someone saying that French crème fraîche is the perfect substitute, and we don’t want to disappoint, but no, it’s not.
Crème fraîche is sour compared to mascarpone, and if you interchange the two, the result will never be the same.
How can I be sure to make a perfect mascarpone cream?
There are a few things you must know to prepare a perfect cream at home:
- The eggs have to be fresh and cold otherwise the whites will never become stiff;
- You can add a pinch of baking soda or a dash of white wine vinegar to the egg whites. The chemical reaction between the ingredients will make your egg whites very stiff, just like in a meringue;
- Do not overbeat the cream otherwise, it will warm too much, and it will lose its texture;
- Make sure your mascarpone is soft but still cold. Otherwise, it won’t hold. We usually take it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before using it.
With the perfect cream of mascarpone you can prepare your very own tiramisù cake, like a real Italian (have a look atour recipe, if you want to drool!), like the one you can see in the above picture:
Can I add alcohol to my cream?
Of course, you can (and we love adding a bit of booze to our!). Brandy, whiskey cream, coffee liquor are the best choices: they lighten the fat from the mascarpone and give a unique flavor to the final product.
How long will this cream last?
You can prepare this recipe one day in advance and store it in the fridge without covering the bowl; otherwise, the mascarpone will dissolve because of the humidity, and the cream will become too liquid.
Once it is ready, it will last one day in the fridge (no cover!) or up to 3 days if used in a cake.
We hope this Cream recipe becomes a family staple and we’re sure you’ll love it!
