how to: make whipped cream
May 17th, 2010
I’m always a little surprised at how impressed people seem when I make homemade whipped cream to go on a dessert, or crepes, or whatever the occasion may be. Mainly because….it really is SO easy!! I love whipping it up because the texture and taste are miles above the Cool Whip or whatever you can buy at the store. And actually, the carton of cream it takes to make it is usually cheaper than the pre-made stuff – go figure!
So for anyone who has never tried making homemade whipped cream, here’s a quick how-to. Grab your mixer (or your trusty whisk), a carton of cream, a teaspoon or two of sugar and vanilla…and in 5 minutes, you can be enjoying your own fresh, homemade whipped cream. YUM.
Enjoy!!!
How To: Make Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 Tbsp. granulated or powdered sugar (add more/less to taste)
Optional mix-ins (choose one):
- 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1-2 tsp. almond extract
- 1-2 tsp. bourbon
- or other favorite extract or liqueur
Method:
Chill your mixing bowl and beaters by placing them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before using. (A whisk attachment is preferable, but normal beaters work well too.)
When ready, remove the bowl and beaters and pour in the cream and sugar. Using a mixer, begin by beating the cream on low speed for about 30 seconds (otherwise you’ll get splashed!). Then increase speed to high, continuing to beat until soft peaks form.
(The cream will go through a few stages! First it will be totally liquid, then covered in a zillion bubbles – as pictured below. Then finally it will begin to stiffen until soft peaks form. You can test this by just lifting the beaters up out of the cream. If the resulting peak has a top that bends over slightly, you’ve got it!)
At this point feel free to briefly beat in an extra teaspoon or two of flavoring (vanilla extract, etc.), just until mixed through.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving.
1 cup of cream yields approximately 2 cups of whipped cream.
Ali’s Tip:
Of course whipped cream can also be made without a mixer. Just follow the same steps (still chilling your bowl and the whisk before mixing), and just use a whisk to beat the cream until it reaches the soft peaks stage.
And hey – you’ll burn off a few more of those cream calories in the process! ;)
Hi, I’ve been reading your blog for a bit now, and I’ve tried some of your recipes with great success! Thanks!
I wanted to comment here because I love making my own whipped cream. My mom taught me how – we never used the store bought stuff when I was a kid. It’s also possible to make whipped cream by shaking it in a tupperware container until it’s all fluffy, however, I’ve accidentally made butter using this method in the past!
Thanks again!
yum! i love making homemade whipped cream…those pictures now have me craving it ;)
This is great, Ali! I just posted a similar “how to” recipe a few weeks ago… You’re right, people always seem to be so amazed by homemade whipped cream, but it really is SO easy and SO much more delicious than store-bought!
Great tutorial on whipped cream. I love the top-down picture of the heavy cream container!
Wow, I didn’t realize how easy it was to make it! Need to change my grocery list to cream intead of cool whip! ;) I do have a question though…can you freeze the homemade whip cream? I was just curious if I could make up a larger batch and freeze some. Thanks!
Hi Katie!
Hooray – glad you’re interested in trying this! Unfortunately, I don’t think that freezing it works too well, unless you perhaps want to freeze it in small dallops (or whatever individual servings you would like to use it for once it thaws). I think that could work. But it’s probably much better fresh.
Good luck!!!
~A
What a cute post! I also love homemade whipped cream, and I really must try that tupperware method! Also, it sounds even more impressive when you tell your friends it’s creme chantilly ;p
If you are beating it by hand (the only way chefs would allow me to when I was first training), adding granulated sugar at the beginning makes it go faster – I think this is because the motion of the sugar crystals while it is beating actually helps it along more quickly.
I just tried the tupperware method. I followed the recipes as far as the ingrediants go…while choosing vanilla extract as flavoring.
It worked great. I just shook it until it just about stopped making the swishing sound. Then i used a whisk and finished it by hand. After I stopped shaking it I added the sugar in about 3 increments and the vanilla extract at once.
The entire process including preparation took about 4 minutes.
Wow, Peter! That’s awesome!!! I’ll have to give that a try again — haven’t done the shaking method since I was a kid. But remember it being quite effective! :-)
Ali! I just google searched “homemade whipped cream” and yours was third on the search results…so of course I came here!
Erin, I love it! Small little world…in KC and online. :) Hope you’re well!
~A
Hi, I’m going to make a cake but want to try making it with whip cream instead of butter cream…I find that the butter cream icing is a little too sweet for some peoples taste. I was wondering if this whip cream could be used for decorating cakes?! Does it take food color well or does the color separate? What would you suggest?! Thanks!!
Can you make a light version of this? Will using light cream work as a substitute? Thanks!