An incredibly smooth Baileys frosting with creamy mascarpone cheese. This frosting tastes just like a cup of Baileys hot chocolate and is perfect for frosting cakes, cupcakes and pastries!

Why this frosting is great
This Baileys frosting with mascarpone is so quick and easy, yet incredibly delicious! It needs minimal time and effort, yet it looks and tastes delicious. A lighter alternative to buttercream, this frosting is perfect for icing cupcakes, cakes or other desserts. The frosting is best made fresh and used immediately. This frosting is:
- Easy to make
- Takes only minutes to whip together
- Very versatile and can be used on most desserts
- Delicious and smooth
- Pipes very well
- Lighter than buttercream
- Just the right about of sweet, not overly sweet
- Great to use when short on time
Baileys Irish Cream Flavour
This Baileys frosting is especially amazing for the holidays season. This mascarpone frosting tastes like the traditional hot chocolate with Baileys Irish Cream.
How much Baileys should I use?
Baileys can be quite strong in this frosting, so I recommend having a lighter hand. This recipe is enough to ice around 10-12 cupcakes, and only uses 4 teaspoon of Baileys. Anything more than this will make the liqueur flavour much too strong.
I use the Original Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur, as it goes best with hot chocolate flavour. Naturally, other flavours of Baileys can be used, such as Strawberry and Cream or Salted Caramel.
You can also try making your own delicious Homemade Irish Cream!
Can children eat this frosting?
Baileys Irish Cream does not have a high volume of alcohol. However, I do not recommend this recipe for children. Instead, replace the Baileys with some actual hot chocolate, it will be equally as tasty!

Ingredient round-up
Mascarpone - a rich and smooth cheese, mascarpone makes this frosting extremely creamy. It can also be replaced with full fat cream cheese. You can also try this Homemade Mascarpone recipe if you're feeling adventurous!
Baileys Irish Cream - a creamy liqueur made with cream, cocoa, and Irish whiskey. Added in the frosting, Baileys add a lovely flavour. However, don't worry, the alcohol flavour cannot be tasted very much.
Hot chocolate powder - any type of hot chocolate or cocoa powder will work for this recipe, as long as it's in powder form. The cocoa adds flavour and richness to the frosting. It can also be replaced with regular cocoa powder or Dutch processed cocoa powder.
Milk powder - makes the frosting more milky in flavour and also a little thicker. If you don't have any, feel free to leave it out.

How to use the mascarpone frosting
There are so many uses for this type of mascarpone frosting. Here are my favourite ways to use this frosting:
- Icing on cupcakes
- Frosting cakes or between layers
- Take Chocolate Panettone to the next level with frosting
- Filling for eclairs or choux puffs
- Fill chocolate or coffee macarons
- Use it in this decadent Baileys Chocolate and Cream Parfait
- Pipe it on top of Baileys Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Recipe

Baileys Frosting with Mascarpone
Ingredients
- 75 g mascarpone (⅓ cup)
- 40 g icing sugar (⅓ cup)
- 20 g Baileys Irish Cream (1 ½ tsp)
- 100 g heavy (double) cream (½ cup)
- 20 g hot chocolate powder (¼ cup)
- 1 teaspoon milk powder*
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
Instructions
- Whisk together the mascarpone, sugar, hot chocolate and milk powder, cinnamon and Baileys.
- Whip the heavy (double) cream separately until stiff peaks are achieved. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a nozzle and use immediately.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- This recipe is enough to frost 12 cupcakes.
- Calories are indicative only and are calculated per serving (1 batch = 12 servings).
- Storing - this frosting is best used immediately. If needed, store in the fridge for up to 3 days. To use after chilling, whisk the frosting a bit to loosen it up.
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