How to Make Whipped Cream

close up of whipped cream in a stiff peak on a whisk attachment.

5 from 2 votes

Whipped cream is basically the pixie dust of desserts. A dollop here, a swirl there, and suddenly your entire life is better. It’s surprisingly easy to make homemade (like, charlatan easy.) All you need is heavy cream, a little powdered sugar, and a dash of vanilla. Seriously, once you’ve tasted this recipe, you’ll be ignoring the canned stuff like you're straight outta Mean Girls. Grab your mixer and I'll show you just how to make that creamy, dreamy goodness happen!

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, French, Italian

Servings:

Calories: 147kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar* or more, I rarely measure this
1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional, but not really
pinch kosher salt optional,

Instructions

Chill your tools. Start by tossing your large bowl (or stand mixer bowl) and beaters into the freezer, if there is space. Refrigerator is fine too. Leave it in for 5-10 minutes in the freezer, 10-20 minutes in the fridge. Room temp is fine if you're in a rush—but if you just pulled it out of the dishwasher and it's hot, don't even think about it. Run it under cold tap water until it's cold, then dry all the way.
If you're using a hand mixer, you want a high-sided bowl that's much larger than you'd think you'd need for such a small amount of cream. (If you skip this step, call me so I can laugh at you when you splatter cream all over the walls.)
Add 1 cup of cold heavy cream to your bowl. (This recipe is so easy to double, triple, quadruple. You will just have to beat a little longer.)
Add 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (or more or less, see note.)
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or your preferred extract flavor.
Stand mixer instructions: Attach the whisk and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting to start, then slowly increase the speed to medium high. Use a splatter shield, if you have one. (You can drape the entire mixer with a tea towel, if you are making a large batch and you're getting rained with cream.) Don't walk away! Watch it!
The whipped cream will take 2-3 minutes to reach soft peak stage. You'll know you're there when the whipped cream looks thickened, smooth, and fluffy. Detach the whisk and flip it over. The whipped cream should peak and hold its shape—but just barely. It will droop a little but not lose its structure. It should be perfectly light and airy, not too liquid-y or heavy. It should look smooth, not textured.** (See note)
Hand mixer instructions: Attach the beaters to your hand mixer, place them in the bowl with the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla, and turn it on to the lowest setting.
Slowly increase the speed and keep the beaters moving but low, so the cream isn't spraying wildly out the bowl. Once you've reached the highest (or next to highest) setting, the whipped cream will only take 3 minutes or so to reach soft peak stage. You'll know it's done when the whipped cream looks thickened, smooth, and fluffy.
Detach a beater and flip it over. The whipped cream should peak and hold its shape—but just barely. It will droop a little but not lose its structure. It should be perfectly light and airy, not too liquid-y or heavy. It should look smooth, not textured.** (See note)
Use the whipped cream immediately on your favorite dessert, like Strawberry Shortcake or Lemon Lush or Crepes or Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie!
Storage: Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days covered.
Freezer instructions: Add whipped cream to a ziplock and freeze no longer than 2 months for best flavor. Let thaw completely in the fridge, then beat lightly before serving.
Another method is to pipe the whipped cream in dollops or piped shapes on a silpat on a baking sheet. Flash freeze thoroughly, then transfer to a ziplock. Now they are ready for you to toss directly into your hot chocolate, pie, or your open mouth.

Notes

*POWDERED SUGAR: I'm a "more-sugar-is-better" person most of the time 😂 Love me some sweet. BUT. I'm learning to be a little more nuanced with my whipped cream.

Whipped cream is sometimes useful for adding sweetness—but sometimes you want all that fatty creamy goodness to CUT the sweetness.

Here are some examples:

Pecan Pie: ultra sweet dessert. Use less powdered sugar in your whipped cream.
Cranberry Shortbread Bars: tart dessert! Add a little more powdered sugar to your whipped cream.
Strawberry Shortcake: the strawberries are sweet, but the shortcake is not. You could go either way but I like an extra SWEET whipped cream for this dessert.

These are just examples. Let your heart guide you!

ROUGH TEXTURE/OVER BEATEN WHIPPED CREAM:

If you went too far and your whipped cream looks clumpy and textured, you can save it. With the stand mixer or hand mixer running, slowly drizzle in a couple tablespoons of cold, un-whipped heavy cream. Once the clumpy cream is in smooth, soft peaks again, which will only take 10-20 seconds, stop mixing.

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