How to Make Whipped Cream at Home

Featured in Intermediate

Whipped cream is the perfect topping for cakes, cupcakes, trifles, pies, ice cream, milkshakes and virtually any dessert you like. Whipped cream is basically just sweetened cream whipped until it reaches the right consistency.

However, store-bought whipped cream usually contains much more than just cream and sugar, it has conservants and other additives to make it last longer. Lucky for us dessert lovers, it’s really easy to make whipped cream at home and it tastes far better! You can prepare the perfect smooth and delicious topping for your dessert in just a couple of minutes.

Ingredients

1. 1 ¼  cup Heavy cream, cold
2. ½ cup Sugar to sweeten, preferably powdered
3. Vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions

1. Use cold heavy cream to get the softest whipped cream possible. Keep in mind that room temperature cream won’t whip correctly. For better results, before you start whipping, chill the bowl in the fridge for at least 25 minutes or the freezer for at least 12-15 minutes. You can even chill the whisk as well!
2. Whip the heavy cream and sugar (and vanilla extract) together on medium-high speed with your electric mixer: this speed is perfect for whipped cream, trapping air at a medium pace. High speed will over-whip the cream and low speed won’t be able to “trap” as much air.
3. Whip until you lift the whisk out from the bowl and the cream peak that forms in the cream doesn’t lose its shape completely: that’s how you can tell your whipped cream is ready. Try this test several times throughout the process to avoid over-whipping.
4. Watch over the mixer so you know when the whipped cream is ready: whipped cream only takes a handful of minutes to form, but it’s very easy to get distracted and end up with over-whipped cream, thick and lumpy. Perfect whipped cream is smooth and fluffy.