This Homemade Vanilla Frosting made with Mascarpone Cheese is a luxurious topping that elevates any dessert. Silky mascarpone blends with whipped cream and powdered sugar, infused with pure vanilla extract for a rich, velvety finish.
Light yet indulgent, it whips up quickly into a smooth, spreadable frosting that’s perfect for cakes, cupcakes, or cookies. The creaminess of the mascarpone adds sophistication, making this recipe a standout choice for a sweet, elegant touch.
This truly is our favorite frosting to make. This frosting is flavored with vanilla extract. But I have also added coffee extract to give it a different flavor.
What is Mascarpone Cheese?
Mascarpone cheese is a soft, double or triple cream cheese. It is similar to cream cheese, but is softer, and doesn’t have the “tang” that cream cheese has.
Mascarpone is vegetarian as it does not contain rennet from animals. It’s made by heating heavy cream and adding an acid like tartaric acid (cream of tartar), citric acid, or lemon juice to cause the chemical reaction that solidifies or thickens the cream into a cheese. Then the whey is strained out, leaving the solid cheese behind. It is often also slightly sweetened.
Mascarpone cheese usually has 60-75% fat content, whereas typical cream cheese has 35-55% fat content.
You can commonly find it in the deli section of your grocery store. It used to be that I had to go to some very specific stores to find it, but now I can even find it in the Walmart grocery section.
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To Make This Recipe You Will Need:
- heavy whipping cream
- powdered sugar
- mascarpone cheese
- vanilla extract
- electric mixer with bowl and whisk attachment
Watch Me Make this Recipe in the Video Below
In the video below, I made some gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with my granddaughter, for her mama’s birthday. We made this creamy vanilla frosting to top the cupcakes.
To begin chill your mixing bowl and whisk attachment for an hour or longer ahead of time. This helps the whipping cream whip up easier.
Pour whipping cream into your mixing bowl.
Add in powdered sugar and beat the cream until stiff peaks form.
Spoon mascarpone cheese into the whipped cream in dollops. Add in the vanilla extract.
Mix the frosting until smooth, and then use it as you like!
This recipe will frost about 12 cupcakes or a 9×13″ rectangle cake, depending upon how thick, or how you apply your frosting to your cakes.
To do the thick, floral design you see on the cake that is shown, I doubled this recipe.
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