Mascarpone Strawberry Dessert
…or the easiest dessert you can make. Seriously.
I had a little while ago this most delicious cake in Bucharest. Layers of soft pistachio cake, the most airy, dreamy, vanilla-y filling, bursts of fresh strawberries throughout. I dream about it occasionally.
In any case, I came home and started thinking about making it myself. I didn’t want to do a full cake but REALLY needed to get to the bottom off that airy, mousse-like cream. I also wanted it to be easy to make and maybe inspire a few people to make it as an easy dessert for the weekend.
I did want that pistachio though, I am obsessed with this nut. I find it superior to all others and the bright green hue it imparts is just the icing on the cake (pun most definitely intended).
I had recently gotten a jar of sweetened pistachio paste that I could have just eaten with a spoon but instead decided to top the strawberries and cream with it and boy, am I glad I did.
If you wanted to be extra fancy, you could serve this with some ladyfingers or some pistachio financiers - recipe to follow VERY soon on the blog.
This dessert is super easy. I swear. It also has like 6 ingredients. It’s taking me longer to write this recipe than it will take you to actually make it. So please, pretty please, make it.
Mascarpone Strawberry Dessert
Ingredients
- 100ml heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp mascarpone, room temperature
- 1-2 heaped tbsp sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthways (you can also use 1 tsp vanilla paste instead)
- 200g strawberries, 100g diced (0.5 cm), the rest beautifully cut, for decoration
- 2 tbsp pistachio paste - I used this one
- mint leaves, optional, for decoration
Instructions
- Start by making the whipped mascarpone. In a large bowl place the mascarpone with a few tablespoons of the heavy cream. Start whipping it with a whisk (manually or electric) until it loosens up. Add the rest of the cream, sugar and vanilla seeds.
- Continue whipping, keeping an eye on it, until it forms soft peaks. At this point I like to switch to a manual whisk because it’s so easy to over whip this. Whisk a little while longer until the mixture holds its shape.
- Add the diced strawberries and fold them in gently, careful to not knock out the air and not smush the strawberries.
- Divide cream between two glasses.
- Top with the pistachio paste and spread it nicely over the top (you may want to warm the pistachio paste for just 10 seconds in the microwave, to make it more spreadable).
- Decorate with fruit and mint leaves, if using