Authored by Kate Beswick in Food and Cooking 
Published on 06-07-2009

Making your own homemade whipped cream is not only easy and cheap, but it also tastes way better than anything that comes out of a jar or a can! Homemade whipped cream is the perfect topping for that very special cake or other dessert, and it takes just a few minutes to make!

All you need is a mixing bowl, beaters or a whisk, heavy unpasteurized cream, and flavorings. Using an electric mixer is best but if you’re feeling up to the challenge, put your wrist action to the test by mixing it by hand with a whisk. It will take a very long time but it will be just as effective!

Using pasteurized cream, especially ultra-pasteurized cream, can make the cream harder to whip as well as change the texture. Again, it’s not impossible to make delicious homemade cream this way. It just requires a little extra know-how and a few tips. Placing the mixers and the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes can make ultra-pasteurized cream easier to beat. Using cream with a very high butterfat content will also help make the best homemade whipped cream possible. This is because whipped fat traps air bubbles and makes it lighter and fluffier!

Begin by placing cold cream into the mixing bowl along with the flavorings of your choice. Mint, chocolate, vanilla, and sugar are all excellent choices! For a simple and basic homemade whipped cream, try adding 1 or 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar or sweetener for every cup of cream. Place your whisk or your electric mixer in the bowl and start at a very slow speed so the contents of the bowl stay inside the bowl. Once you begin mixing, the cream will start to thicken. Once this begins you can start mixing it more quickly. As you start mixing it even more quickly, you can start trying to form soft peaks on top of the cream. You will have the proper consistency of cream once these peaks appear.

Once you start seeing peaks, slow the mixer down and continue slowly. If you over-mix the whipped cream, it will begin to clump and separate. Once you have the perfectly prepared homemade whipped cream, you can then have your taste test and adjust the flavorings if you’d like. When the whipped cream is finished, be sure to refrigerate it right away so that it doesn’t lose any of its firmness. Also make sure that anything that you choose to cover your homemade whipped cream with, such as cake, is also refrigerated first.

One cup of cream will make approximately two cups of homemade whipped cream. You will notice that it will shrink in size after one or two hours, but you can still use it. Just be sure to give it a little fluff with a whisk or fork and it will be as good as new!