Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting

• Prep15 min
• Cook0 min
• Total45 min
• Serves24

Ingredients

• 225 g mascarpone, cold (one 8 oz tub)
• 60 g powdered sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 475 g heavy cream, very cold (2 cups, 1 pint)

To decorate

• Fresh berries: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries

Instructions

1. If you only have granulated sugar, first mill 60 g in the clean, dry mixing bowl 10 sec/speed 10 and set it aside. Then chill the mixing bowl and butterfly whisk in the fridge for 30 minutes, or fill the bowl with ice and cold water for 5 minutes, empty it and dry it very well.
2. Insert the butterfly whisk into the cold bowl, add the mascarpone, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and mix 20 sec/speed 3, until smooth. Loosening the mascarpone first keeps it from leaving little lumps in the cream.
3. Add the very cold cream, remove the measuring cup and whip 3 min/speed 3.5, watching through the lid opening from the first minute. Cold cream whips because its tiny drops of fat stay firm and link together around the air bubbles; warm cream never gets stiff, and in a hot Florida kitchen it warms up fast.
4. Watch the stages: first it turns foamy, then the whisk leaves soft trails (soft peaks), and after about 2 to 3 minutes it looks thick and matte and holds its shape. Stop the TM7 as soon as it holds stiff peaks, even if the time has not run out: a few seconds more and it turns grainy, then into butter.
5. Lift a little with the spatula: the peak should stand straight up. If it flops over, whip 10 sec/speed 3.5 and check again. If it went a little too far and looks grainy, fold in 2 to 3 tbsp of cold liquid cream by hand to smooth it out.
6. Spoon it into a piping bag with a large open star tip, filling it only halfway so the warmth of your hands does not soften it, and pipe tall swirls on completely cool cupcakes. Top with the berries and refrigerate until serving.

Tips

• No mascarpone? Use 25 g (3 tbsp) instant vanilla pudding mix instead and cut the powdered sugar to 30 g (1/4 cup), since the mix is already sweet. Skip step 2 and add the pudding mix and sugar with the cream in step 3. Its starch thickens without cooking, so the cream holds almost as well, with a light vanilla pudding flavor.
• Frosted cupcakes hold their swirls for 1 day in the fridge, in a tall covered container so nothing touches the tops. Add the berries close to serving so their juice does not bleed into the cream. Leftover cream keeps 2 days in the fridge; if it softens, whisk it by hand for a few seconds.
• Florida heat: whipped cream is still cream, so even stabilized it softens in a warm room. Keep the cupcakes in the fridge until the last minute, serve them indoors with air conditioning when you can, and do not leave them out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour outdoors above 32°C (90°F).
• For flavor, add 20 g (1/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder with the sugar for a chocolate cream, 1 tsp instant espresso powder for a coffee cream, or a little almond or coconut extract. For a pink berry cream, mill 15 g (3/4 cup) freeze-dried strawberries with the sugar before you chill the bowl. Add gel colors once it reaches soft peaks, so they blend in before it gets stiff.