Hi there! Last weekend I was excited to try a delicious looking Martha Stewart banana caramel cake recipe. Everything went well until I began to work on the frosting. When mixing the mascarpone with the sugar and cream, I never got "medium-soft peaks" but instead just a mass of mixed goo. I didn't know if it was too cold or too warm and ended up with a curdly looking mess...tried speeding up the mixer (like you do if your mousseline buttercream starts to curdle) which just made it look more chunky...then warmed the bowl a BIT and ended up with a curdly blob in a puddle. Oh what a disaster. I tried chilling it for 10 mins at a time and then remixing...to no avail. Finally chilled the whole mess and spread the semisolid glop on my cake with my HANDS because when cold, it stuck to the spatula and not the cake.
What the? Should I have had the cream or cheese at a certain temperature the way BC butter is 65F? Should I mix the cheese into the cream after whipping the cream a bit? (it doesn't say this so I didn't). Here is the recipe.
Mascarpone Frosting
1 lb mascarpone cheese
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Beat cheese, cream and sugar until medium-soft peaks form. Do not overbeat.
>Note, this was a mess before I ever had a chance to overbeat it! Which eventually I of course did.
Does anyone have experience with using mascarpone in frostings, and can you advise me of proper techniques for a successful frosting made with this ingredient?
By the way it actually ended up tasting ok and fortunately you pour caramel sauce over the whole thing so you couldn't see how unappetizing the frosting looked. 
Try this, blend the cream and sugar together first with a mixer until fluffy. Then gently fold the mixture into the Mascarpone. Most times when you use Mascarpone in desserts you have to "fold" the cream mixture into cheese with a spatula. I never used it for frosting that heavy so I am not sure but I'll almost bet that will work. I cook with Mascarpone as often as I can. *is an Italian food nut*
hope that helps
oops... I mis-read the sugar amount. It shouldn't be that heavy. It will be light and fluffy. Don't heat the bowl, it will warm the cheese and when you add the fluffy mixture it will be too warm and will break down. See if that helps a little.
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