How can you replace cream cheese in cream? Delicate, tasty, creamy mascarpone - what is it and can it be replaced? My mascarpone cheese recipe. Coffee Tiramisu Cake by Christopher Felder

Good afternoon, dear readers!

Do you have a sweet tooth among you? Then you've probably tried a surprisingly delicate dessert called tiramisu. I'm not much of a sweet tooth, but I can't resist this dessert. And the kids are generally ready to swallow the whole cake, it’s so delicious.

The main ingredient in tiramisu is mascarpone cheese. Unfortunately, it cannot always be found on sale here, and many do not know what kind of wonderful cheese this is.

Therefore, today the topic for our conversation is mascarpone, what is it and what can you replace it with? I will also share with you a proven recipe for mascarpone cheese.

Type of cheese

Mascarpone cheese is surprisingly delicate and has a light creamy taste. In Italy, a dessert called tiramisu is prepared from it, and Americans bake cheesecake. In our latitudes, mascarpone is rare. Looking at the price, you will still think about whether to buy it or not.

This means that you need to replace it with a product more suitable in taste and consistency.

What to replace it with?

There are several types of cheeses that are most similar to mascarpone. The choice will depend on what dish we are going to prepare.


Making mascarpone at home

And now, dear readers, I want to offer you a wonderful recipe for mascarpone at home. I’ve made cheese using this recipe several times, and to be honest, it takes some getting used to for it to work.

And frankly, if it seems that doing it yourself will be cheaper, it is not so, it turns out even more expensive. But I’ll tell you anyway, in case someone gets inspired and wants to repeat my feat.

I should note that this recipe is not mine, I once found it on our city forum. Its author is Olga, she is a true master of her craft, I have already published a wonderful chocolate pie using her recipe. Well, let's get started.


In order for you to get approximately half a kilogram of mascarpone, you will need one liter of cream with a fat content of at least 30%.

I want to warn you right away that many stores sell vegetable cream with a fat content of 30%, it has nothing in common with real cream and you won’t be able to make cheese. Therefore, carefully read what is written on the packaging.

If you bought cream from a farmer or at a market, it should be very sweet, without any hint of sourness. In terms of consistency, they should be liquid, that is, pour. If there is a spoon in the cream, it will not suit you.

For the mascarpone recipe we also need 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.


If you don’t have a special kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature of the liquid, then watch to see that the cream begins to form small bubbles around the edges.

At this moment, you pour lemon juice into the cream, prepared in advance, and over very low heat, almost invisible, stir the cream gently for 5-6 minutes (the cream should thicken a little, but not boil).

Line a sieve with a towel and pour the resulting creamy mass into it. We wait a bit for it to drain. And then we move the resulting creamy mixture into the refrigerator for a couple of hours and stir periodically so that the cheese mixture goes away well.

That’s basically all, if you need mascarpone tender, like for tiramisu, then three hours in the refrigerator will be enough. And if you want to make a cheesecake, you will need a thicker cheese, keep it in the refrigerator for a few more hours.

What is mascarpone? If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is heavy cream, very slightly processed with a leavening culture. That's why it's sweet and has no sourness.

Simplified version of the cream

If you want to prepare a simplified version of cheese, take three hundred grams of sour cream and cottage cheese and mix well. Separately, beat 3 yolks and whites and mix with the curd mass. Makes an excellent cream.

As a base for the cake, take regular cookies, crumble them and apply cream on top. You can lay out cookies and cheese in layers, add chocolate or coffee to them.

Mascarpone cheese is an exquisite delicacy. However, it can be very difficult to get it, but we don’t worry and prepare it ourselves.

Ekaterina Chesnakova was with you with mascarpone, ricotta and tiramisu!

You can try real tiramisu, of course, only in Italy. However, if it is not possible to travel abroad, it is worth preparing such a delicacy at home: its recipe is not at all a secret. You just need to know how to replace the unique Italian mascarpone cheese.

Each famous dessert has its own legend of origin. Tiramisu is no exception. It is believed that it was invented in the 17th century by Italian confectioners who were tasked with impressing a high-ranking guest - the Duke of the Medici family, known for his passion for sweets.

The masters did not disgrace themselves and prepared a completely new dessert, calling it “Duke’s Soup.” The great gourmet was completely smitten by the exquisite taste, and when leaving, he took with him the recipe for his favorite delicacy.

The secret of the uniqueness of mascarpone

Why was the spoiled nobleman so shocked by the proposed delicacy? Tiramisu, invented by skilled confectioners, included the most delicate creamy mascarpone cheese. This amazing product was produced in the province of Lombardy.

Emerald meadows, clean air and clear water - these are the conditions in which Lombardy cows grazed, giving high-quality milk in return. The soft cheese was prepared exclusively from cream, due to which it reached 55% fat content, almost approaching butter.

Simple Alternatives

Needless to say, it is difficult to prepare a true tiramisu without the “right” cheese. Moreover, the cheese must also be absolutely fresh. You definitely won’t find such a rare product in our stores. However, there is no reason to be discouraged and deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying an unusually delicious dessert. After all, you can always find a worthy alternative. What can you replace Italian mascarpone with?

Don't be scared - you won't have to get a cow! The easiest option is to use full-fat cottage cheese mixed with cream. By the way, “mascherpa” just means “cottage cheese” in the Lombardy dialect.

Soft cream cheese Almette or Philadelphia is also quite capable of replacing mascarpone. Another possible way: mix a package of any cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of 35% cream and 3 tablespoons of 25% sour cream and use the resulting mixture as cream when making dessert.

Possible options

However, there are also more complex methods for obtaining a worthy analogue, in which you can simultaneously feel like a cheese maker. Of course, it will not be possible to reproduce the technological process of making cheese, but the achieved result will make it possible to replace the “Italian” in tiramisu.

Option one:

  • buy 1 kg of fat sour cream (25%) in the store;
  • hang it up overnight, packing it in a canvas bag. The excess liquid will drain off, leaving a product that is very similar in performance to mascarpone. It comes out to about 500 g - just enough to make homemade tiramisu.

Option two:

  • take 800 g of sour cream and one package of kefir;
  • mix them, add salt to taste, and hang them in a linen bag over the sink for a couple of days. As soon as the product hardens enough, this is a signal that homemade mascarpone is ready.

Option three:

  • 1 liter of cream;
  • a quarter teaspoon of citric acid.

This cooking method is vaguely reminiscent of the traditional recipe:

  1. Bring the cream almost to a boil (80 - 90 degrees) - the first bubbles should begin to form. Dilute citric acid in a teaspoon of water and pour, stirring, into the hot cream.
  2. Reduce heat to low and simmer the cheese for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and leave for 10 minutes.
  3. Take another saucepan and place a colander on it, lined with a kitchen towel folded in half. Pour the cream into a colander, remembering to periodically stir the future mascarpone with a whisk (to facilitate the drainage of the whey).
  4. The process will take about one and a half hours. By the end, the mass will begin to resemble thick sour cream. After this, the resulting product must be transferred to a dry bowl and put in the refrigerator, where it will acquire the desired consistency. The amount of homemade mascarpone created in this way can replace 500 g of the original product.

In conclusion, it remains to be said: the absence of Italian cheese cannot at all prevent you from enjoying a sophisticated dessert. Especially if you have a firm intention to treat yourself and your family to the famous tiramisu.

Video recipe for making tiramisu without mascarpone

– very soft and delicate cream cheese, with a light creamy taste.

There is speculation that the name of this product comes from “mas que bueno”, which means “better than good” in Spanish.

Mascarpone is used in various famous desserts, such as Italian tiramisu or American cheesecake.

But, unfortunately, this delicious cheese cannot always be found on sale, and the cost of this type of soft cheese is quite high.

Therefore, the question arises, what to replace mascarpone in recipes with?

The highlights of tiramisu are mascarpone and savoiardi cookies, and no matter how much you bake the biscuits and spread them with something made from cottage cheese, it will no longer be tiramisu. Chefs will tell us that mascarpone can only be replaced with fresher mascarpone, but this is not our case.

If for some reason you were unable to buy mascarpone, then you need to look for replacement options.

The most similar to mascarpone in taste and quality is another national Italian dairy product - cheese made from whey.

Is it possible to replace mascarpone with ricotta and how to do it correctly?

Replacement is quite possible, but you need to consider what dish the cheese is intended for.

Unlike mascarpone, ricotta cheese comes in different types: slightly sweet, quite suitable for making desserts, and salty and smoked varieties can replace a similar product in appetizer dishes.

Some advise replacing Mascarpone with a cheaper one, “Almette” or “Rama Bonjur” without additives in blue packaging.

Another possible way: mix a package of any cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of 35% cream and 3 tablespoons of 25% sour cream and use the resulting mixture as cream when making dessert.

By the way, in the “Eating at Home” program, Yulia Vysotskaya always said that Mascarpone cheese can be replaced with children’s curd cheeses, not glazed, but regular ones. They need to be mixed and thoroughly beaten with the heaviest cream (at least 33%), based on the amount of 1 part cream - 2.5 curds or vanilla curd mass without fruit additives.

What can Mascarpone cheese be made from?

How to replace mascarpone cheese in home cooking?

The product, similar in taste to the original cheese, is quite easy to prepare.

All you need is heavy cream and lemon juice.

Homemade recipe review:


Lyubov Schastlivtseva, VKontakte: “By the way, as a person who didn’t buy mascarpone, I made it myself from cream - it turns out great, it’s delicious, you can gobble it up))) I highly recommend it to those who, for one reason or another, cannot get mascarpone. The truth was hanging up to drain overnight. According to reviews from people who have tried both mascarpone and the mass after boiling the cream, it is identical. It turns out to be a kind of creamy, curd-like, very tender mass. The main thing is not to let the cream boil too much.

Try it - you won't be disappointed."

P.S. The cream should be fat, 30 percent, no less than fat content.

Cooking option Sour cream mascarpone Nastya Tumanova suggests:

Mascarpone cheese can be made like this! Buy sour cream 30-40%, not sour in taste. Place it on gauze folded 3 times, tie it and hang it so that all the water from the sour cream drips out overnight. In the morning there will be a thick creamy mass almost indistinguishable from Mascarpone.

Mascarpone from sour cream and kefir:

  1. Take 800 g of sour cream and one package of kefir, mix them, add salt to taste.
  2. Hang it for a couple of days in a linen bag over the sink. As soon as the product hardens enough, this is a signal that homemade mascarpone is ready.

Mascarpone from cream mixture:

Instead of mascarpone, you can use this mixture - take one package of vanilla pudding powder (or semi-finished custard powder) and mix it with condensed milk (instead of plain milk, in the same amount as written in the preparation instructions on the package itself), then place the mixture in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. This mass is used in tiramisu in the same way as mascarpone with yolks.

Cottage cheese mascarpone

And also combine the fattest cottage cheese with heavy cream, beat until smooth and thick, add sugar, vanilla, a few drops of lemon juice. You can add dissolved gelatin (along with cream). Then you get a very tender and, at the same time, solid mass.

Ryazhenka mascarpone:

You need to take fermented baked milk in paper bags. Place in the freezer to freeze for 1 day. Cut it in half and prepare a structure from a bowl, colander and gauze. Now you need to put the frozen ryazhenka blocks there and put them in the refrigerator for slow defrosting. Let the whey drain, we don't need it. In a day, when all the whey has come out, an excellent fermented baked milk cream is ready.

Tiramisu recipe without Mascarpone

Culinary experts suggest replacing mascarpone in tiramisu cream with familiar dairy products.

How to make this dessert without cream cheese?

Ingredients:

  • homemade cottage cheese – 300 g
  • eggs – 3 pcs.
  • fat sour cream – 300 g
  • biscuit cookies – 300 g
  • powdered sugar – 3 tbsp. spoons
  • cocoa/powder – 4 teaspoons
  • brewed natural strong coffee – 1 glass

Tiramisu recipe without mascarpone:

1. Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, add fresh sour cream, beat the mixture thoroughly with a mixer.

2. Also beat the yolks until they turn white. Mix all components.

3. Carefully pour the separately beaten egg whites into the mixture, stirring continuously.

4. Place the cookies soaked in cooled coffee in a tall vase in one layer, cover the top with the prepared cream, again place a layer of soaked cookies, then a layer of cream. So we lay it out to the edge of the vase, sprinkle the top creamy layer with cocoa.


Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. The main ingredient is cream with a high fat content. The texture is reminiscent of soft whipped cottage cheese or thick country sour cream. This product is very high in calories, as it contains 75% fat. Its taste is creamy and very delicate, and its consistency is similar to cream. This cheese is often used in the preparation of confectionery products: desserts, cakes, pastries, etc.

Properties of mascarpone

It is very nutritious and healthy: it contains vitamins of groups A, B, C, K, PP, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, etc. In addition, as a derivative of milk, it contains complete proteins and amino acids necessary for the body. Thanks to its richness, it improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system, helps strengthen the immune system and nervous system, helps fight depression and irritability, strengthens bones, and also improves growth and promotes muscle development.

The harmful properties of the product include high calorie content. Therefore, excessive consumption of this cheese can lead to increased cholesterol levels and obesity, so housewives often think about how to replace mascarpone. In addition, due to its composition, this cheese is not recommended for people suffering from milk intolerance, with a weak liver and intestinal tract diseases, as well as for children under three years of age.

Where is mascarpone cheese used?

It is a multifunctional product:

  • You can spread it on bread instead of butter - the taste of the sandwich will only improve. At the same time, cheese contains several times fewer calories than butter, and is suitable for those who want to get rid of extra pounds.
  • You can make a delicious, delicate sauce from it.

  • If you mix it with berries, you get a wonderful dessert.
  • It can be mixed with liqueur and chocolate. You will get a special treat.
  • Mascarpone is one of the main ingredients for making cottage cheese casseroles and tiramisu.

The most common way to use it is in confectionery products. But it’s difficult to find it in the store, and it’s not cheap. This fact stops many novice cooks from preparing interesting new dishes. This raises the question of whether it can be replaced with something. Therefore, it is worth considering mascarpone cheese: what it is and how to replace it in various dishes.

Mascarpone: what is it and what can you replace it with?

Before talking about how to replace mascarpone cheese in various dishes, you should take a closer look at the composition of the product. The main ingredient, as mentioned above, is cream with a fat content of at least 20%. Acid and lemon juice are added to them. Therefore, the product has a velvety, rich taste.

Mascarpone is used in the preparation of sauces, casseroles, added to pasta and risotto, but the most common method of use is desserts. Since this delicacy is very fatty and high in calories, when preparing main courses and desserts, housewives often try to replace it with something. You can use lower-calorie, low-fat products to make casseroles, pastas, or glazes, but this won’t work with desserts. This raises the question of how to replace mascarpone cheese so that the consistency and taste of the dish is preserved. Let's consider options for replacing this product with other milk-derived options.

Mascarpone Alternatives

To replace this cheese in cream for a cake or other dessert, you can use your own homemade cream mixture. To do this, take 150 g of cream cheese, a quarter cup of twenty percent cream and 2 tablespoons of butter. In this case, the cheese and butter should be at room temperature. Beat the cream well with a whisk or blender, add butter and cheese, thoroughly mashed with a fork. Mix all ingredients until a light, airy homogeneous mass is obtained.

To replace mascarpone in other dishes (for example, pasta, risotto, soups, etc.), you can use lower fat and high-calorie substitutes:

  • you can put soft low-fat cottage cheese in lasagna or pasta;
  • in soup, salad or risotto - low-fat sour cream;
  • in the glaze - low-calorie cream cheese;
  • In the sauce - thick low-calorie yogurt without additives.

Ricotta instead of mascarpone

Another famous Italian soft cheese is ricotta. Therefore, many are interested in whether it is possible to use ricotta instead of mascarpone. Can. It is ideal as an alternative as it has the same properties: similar consistency, mild taste and light texture.

For a complete replacement, you will need 150 g of ricotta cheese and 200 ml of twenty percent cream (more is possible). Both ingredients should be placed in a container and mixed with a blender or food processor until a homogeneous mixture is obtained, and then beat until a light, airy mass is obtained. However, this mixture must be used immediately, otherwise it will lose its properties.

How to replace mascarpone in tiramisu?

The Italian dessert tiramisu is known all over the world. Therefore, every self-respecting housewife wants to pamper herself and her loved ones with this delicacy at least once. One of the most important ingredients in tiramisu is mascarpone cheese, which is sometimes difficult to find in the store. But there are two common options for replacing mascarpone in tiramisu.

An alternative to this cheese would be plain fat cottage cheese or a mixture of cottage cheese and cream. And it will be even tastier if you mix cottage cheese, cream, butter and milk.

You can also replace mascarpone with regular sour cream. To do this, pour it into a canvas bag and leave it overnight. To get half a kilo of the finished product, you need one kilogram of sour cream.

If you still want to add mascarpone to a dish, but it is not available in stores, you can make this cheese yourself.

How to make mascarpone?

The most common are two ways to make the product yourself.

Take cream with a fat content of at least 20% and lemon juice at the rate of a spoonful of juice per glass of cream. Heat the cream to 90 °C in a water bath, then add lemon juice and stir. Pour the resulting mixture into a container (plastic or stainless steel), cover with gauze, then leave for 12 hours at room temperature. Drain the resulting liquid and transfer the grounds to a sieve lined with gauze. Place the sieve in the refrigerator for 24 hours, placing some container under it so that the remaining moisture drains out. Place the finished cheese in a container with a closing lid. Place the product in the refrigerator. Use within three to five days.

Take sour cream or a mixture of sour cream and kefir and hang it in gauze for a day. The cheese will be ready when all the liquid has drained and the remaining mass has become firmer.

Lovers of Italian desserts and simply delicious dishes should not limit themselves just because one of the main ingredients is difficult to find in the store or is very high in calories. Mascarpone can be easily replaced with a lower-calorie ingredient, and if this is not possible, then with another milk-derived product of appropriate fat content. The taste of the dish will remain just as excellent!

How to replace mascarpone cheese

The simplest recipe for homemade mascarpone:

  • 1 liter of good heavy cream (at least 25%);
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice.

Heat the cream in a water bath, not exceeding the temperature of 90°C, add the juice. Continue heating over low heat, stirring constantly. Usually, it takes 15 minutes for the cheese to set. Place a colander on a saucepan, cover it with several layers of gauze, put the still hot mixture in there, and knead so that the whey drips faster than glass. When it cools down, put it in the refrigerator until the morning.

In the morning you will be able to create culinary masterpieces with your homemade mascarpone!

There is an even simpler and even creamier option:

No heating and no citric acid!

Buy good homemade cream from a trusted grandmother, freeze it completely, then defrost it and let it drain on a cheesecloth. All!

Particularly scrupulous cooks may be indignant: they say that mascarpone cannot be replaced, and buying it now is not a problem.

For me personally, another advantage in favor of a homemade analogue of mascarpone cheese was the composition indicated on store-bought mascarpone: cream + citric acid!

By the way, it tasted like regular homemade cream; everyone liked my mascarpone better.

Thanks to generous and generous chefs, you no longer have to rack your brains about what can replace mascarpone cheese. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, just choose the option that suits you best.

1. You can replace mascarpone in desserts, for example, in tiramisu, with this yummy: mix a packet of pudding or custard powder with condensed milk, Following the instructions on the package, condensed milk is used instead of regular milk. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This mixture is used in tiramisu instead of mascarpone with yolks.

2. Whisk baby vanilla cheesecakes with heavy cream in a ratio of 2.5:1. Will also work vanilla curd mass without additives. Of course, this option is for sweet dishes.

3. Mascarpone cheese can be replaced... with another cheese. This is a good option for both sweet and savory dishes, and there is no need to fuss with cooking.

What cheese can replace mascarpone?

  • Philadelphia cheese;
  • Almette cheese;
  • cream cheese "Bonjour";
  • cheese "Rama Bonjur"(classic, without additives).

Is it possible to replace mascarpone with ricotta? Yes, after all ricotta cheese very similar to mascarpone both in taste and in its qualities. But ricotta can be both sweet and smoky-salty - choose the desired shade.

The only negative is that ricotta, like mascarpone, is a rare guest in our refrigerator.

4. Whip fat cottage cheese, preferably homemade, with heavy cream, sugar and 5-6 drops of lemon juice. If the consistency is not thick enough, you can add gelatin. The result is a soft and at the same time strong mass.


Sour cream. But very fresh and very fatty - “so that a spoon could stand in it.” They say that even Italian chefs of famous restaurants replace mascarpone in tiramisu with homemade sour cream...

What else can you replace mascarpone in tiramisu?

Yulia Vysotskaya in one of the episodes of “Eating at Home” advised replacing mascarpone cheese if necessary curd cheeses without glaze.

Another option - matsun (matsoni) or Greek yogurt. It is important that the biscuits are crispy. An additional plus is that this tiramisu will have significantly fewer calories.

Some housewives claim that mascarpone-based tiramisu has a cloying taste. But with cottage cheese and sour cream (grind 50/50) - just right! The taste is creamy, but not cloying, but with a pleasant sourness.

Do you want it with a salty note? Try making tiramisu with processed cheese without flavoring additives. My friend does just this and claims that the taste is divine!

What can replace mascarpone in cream?

Ricotta cheese. Add cream. Not a very economical option.

Fat cottage cheese , ideally - homemade.

Sour cream + Nutella - Of course, the taste is different from mascarpone, but oh-so delicious! And high in calories...

How you can replace mascarpone in a cake is up to you, it all depends on what you want: to save money, play with taste or reduce calorie content.


Sour cream. We buy 1 kg of good, proven sour cream, in the evening we put it on a gauze cloth folded several times and hang it until the morning. All that remains is to cool the sour cream mass and the question of what to replace mascarpone in cheesecake with can be considered resolved! A kilogram of high-quality sour cream yields about 750 g a la mascarpone.

Curd and cream mixture. You will need full-fat cottage cheese and cream (at least 20% fat). Cool the cream and whip it into a strong foam. Grind the cottage cheese through a thick sieve and add to the cream, whip again. It must be admitted that a cheesecake with such a mascarpone substitute will not be as tender, but with an amazing velvety consistency.

Almette cheese (creamy) + sour cream + cream. Beat 300 g of Almette, 3 tablespoons of sour cream and the same amount of cream (35% fat) until smooth. This analogue of mascarpone will help out when preparing both cheesecake and tiramisu.

“Almette” with “FITAKI Creme Mediterranean Cream” and granular cottage cheese. Creamy “Almette” - 2 jars, “FITAKI” - 1 jar, cottage cheese - 2 tablespoons. We beat everything and get a very tasty cheese and curd mass. The cheesecake will be no worse than in the restaurant! And also very economical!

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