Can't Buy 'proper' Cream!

[DuzyEverwork]

Help please, I want to make eclairs/ Paris Brest and where I live in Spain I have no access to either double or whipping cream except for a UHT long lif whipping cream which you have to use almost frozen to get it to whip to any volume and even then the results are really rubbish.
Is there a mascarpone or Philadelphia type filling I could make as a substitute bearing in mind I have to add brandy to the 'cream'? I know if you beat either too much they both go liquidy and less is more for beating both.
Any help would be really great!
Thank you x

[woofgang]

creme patisserie?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pastry_cream_36417

[DuzyEverwork]

Thanks Woofgang that's certainly a thought, I was just hoping to be lazier than that!!!

[Iluvspikey]

look for crema or nata batida - it's the nearest thing to English Double cream that will whip sometimes nata montada

[DuzyEverwork]

Yes thanks Iluvspikey that's all I have been able to buy for the last 12 years, nata de montar or batida but it's rubbish, no matter wher you buy it ie Mercadona, Carrfour, Dia wherever, you have to almost freeze it to get it to whip properly and then within a couple of hours it collapses thats why I need an alternative!

[vodkancoke]

DuzyEverwork, we have the same problems when we are in Italy. We just use crema (creme patissiere) or you could use mascarpone rather than Philly. Mascarpone has a less "cheesy" taste and if you sweeten it with icing sugar and some vanilla you might get the result you are looking for xx

[DTCwordfan]

my sis has the same problem in the S of France (Provence). It's the heat thing I think......

[DuzyEverwork]

Thanks Vodkancoke I think that's the way I might go, just see how much I can whip the mascarpone and stabalise it with icing sugar, the rubbish whipping cream is not much cheaper than mascarpone, I might try a mascarpone Philly combo as I have to add brandy it might mask the slight cheesie tang, and when it's covered in chocolate ganache who will ever know!!
DTCwordfan, my problem is in Spain the whipping cream itself is ghastly.... and no self respecting Spanish family would ever be with out a can of squirty cream in the fridge!!!