What to do with mascarpone

We got a delivery in our social supermarket which included mascarpone and I wondered what you could make with mascarpone as it isn't something I would normally buy. So I looked through some recipes and found that it is a pretty good substitute for creme fraiche and can be used to make a cheesy sauce. I haven't included pasta bake but it would be easy to mix the mascarpone in with some cooked pasta and any other suitable ingredient (broccoli, tuna, tomato, bacon etc.) top it with grated cheese and put it in the oven (180°C for about 20 min should do).

Somewhere in my distant memory I also remember using mascarpone on a carrot cake. It just so happens that we also have loads of carrots right now in the social supermarket so that's a brilliant way of making a nice, cheap tasty treat.

We also have some tomatoes and lots of sponge fingers so I tried to find recipes that used these ingredients - tomato soup and trifle. These recipes are adapted from a few of my favourite recipes so I hope you enjoy them.

Carrot cake with mascarpone topping

You can use creme fraiche instead of the mascarpone in this recipe. It's great with Lancashire cheese crumbled in it.

You can decorate the trifle with hundreds and thousands or add some fruit to the jelly instead of sponge fingers.

This soup also works fine with a small potato instead of the carrot and with milk or cream instead of the mascarpone.