Here’s my recipe for whipped cream. Actually, it’s technically called Chantilly Cream which might sound fancy but it’s just whipped cream that’s lightly sweetened and flavoured with vanilla. It’s basically the better whipped cream!
For Stabilised Whipped Cream that will hold its form for 2 to 3 days, see recipe here. (I pretty much always stabilise my cream these days).
Whipped cream
The whipped cream I make “all the time” is actually called Chantilly cream. This is just the proper French name for sweetened whipped cream – as opposed to cream whipped without sugar. It has the same fluffy texture as plain whipped cream but a more luxurious flavour and an elegant satiny sheen. Basically, it’s a classier, tastier version of plain whipped cream!
All the things I use whipped cream for!
So many things! Here are just some ideas:
decorate and fill cakes
pipe onto cupcakes or mini cheesecakes
fill éclairs, profiteroles and apple turnovers
dollop or pipe on fruit
serve with apple pie and other pies, and apple crumble
Ingredients
All you need is cream, vanilla and icing sugar (powdered sugar) to make whipped cream (Chantilly Cream). For the stabilised option, you will also need mascarpone cream. Some notes on each of these ingredient is below the photo!
Cream – Heavy / thickened cream, or cream suitable for whipping (the carton should say). Here in Australia, there are also pouring creams which which will not whip. Such creams are clearly labelled as such!
Make sure your cream is fridge cold. Warm cream won’t whip!
Vanilla – For the best flavour, use vanilla beans. Else, in order of preference, vanilla bean paste (which has the little vanilla specks in it), vanilla extract and lastly, vanilla essence (which is the most economical because it is artificial – and tastes as such).
Icing sugar / powdered sugar – This is used to sweeten the cream. It’s finer and lighter than caster sugar (superfine sugar) so it dissolves more easily and adds a slightly more delicate sweetness to the cream compared to ordinary sugar.
However, caster sugar (superfine sugar) can be used in a pinch. The quantity to use is in the recipe.
How to make whipped cream (Chantilly cream)
Whether you are making plain or stabilised whipped cream, the method is the same:
Beat – Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat on high speed with a handheld electric beater or stand mixer. Move the beater around the bowl and if need be, stop once or twice to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
Fluffy with peaks – Beat for 1 1/2 minutes (for 1 cup of cream) until it becomes fluffy and you have peaks that stand straight upright, as pictured above. The more cream you start with, the longer it will take. As a guide, 2 cups of cream takes about 2 minutes.
Do not beat for ages else you’ll end up with butter! (Really, I’m not kidding. Butter is made from cream – just beat for ages and butter will form!) But before butter, the cream will become chunky and look a bit lumpy.
And that’s it! Ready to spread onto cakes, pipe onto cupcakes or dollop on bowls of fruit!
How to store whipped cream
Plain, non-stabilised whipped cream is best whipped just before serving. It will start to deflate and “melt” a bit after around 1 hour (sooner, on hot days).
Having said that though, it is still fine to eat for however long the shelf life of the tub of cream you used is. It’s just that the cream will be deflated!
To be honest though, these days, I pretty much always stabilise my cream when I use it to decorate cakes and cupcakes because this way I know that leftovers will be as great as they were when freshly made. See the separate recipe here – Stabilised Whipped Cream. Hope you find it useful! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Whipped cream – with stabilised option
Ingredients
Whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy / thickened cream or whipping cream , cold – NOT pouring cream! (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar , sifted, sub 2 tbsp white sugar (Note 2)
Vanilla flavour – choose ONE (Note 3):
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (my standard) – best economical option
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste – my most used "good" option
- 1 vanilla pod , seeds scraped (PREMIUM option)
Instructions
- Whip cream – Place the cream, icing sugar, vanilla of choice plus mascarpone (if making stabilised cream). Whip using an electric beater on medium high, moving the beater around the bowl, or until whipped to stiffness you are after. Then it's ready for use!
- Stiffness options – Whip for around 1 1/2 minutes if you want soft peaks (kind of dollops) or 2 minutes for stiff peaks (for piping). See in post for photos of soft vs stiff peaks. If scaling up, it will take longer.
- To use – Fill a piping bag with nozzle of choice and pipe. Spread onto cakes or dollop on a bowl of fruit or onto pies!
Hi nagi!!!
With stable whipped cream, is it ok to colour for cake decorating? Also is it best to use gel or oil colouring?
Love all you recipies!!!!
My husband loves apple turnovers, so I’m having a go
This is awesome! Tastes the same as regular chantilly cream, but much more stable. I don’t think I’ll go without the mascarpone for party cakes ever again.
Can i put food color while whipping?
Made this yesterday to top a cake and it was so good! 🙂 It survived a short travel without being chilled (about an hour) and still held its shape. Just used the regular woolies brand mascarpone and didn’t have any problems.
Great cream, wondering if it would it work the same with less icing sugar (half) ? I found it too sweet for my taste 😀 but was still yummy
I’m lactose intolerant. Is there a lactose free alternative to Mascarpone?
Hi Nagi, is the stabilised whipped cream able to be coloured? I’m doing a cake this arvo for tomorrow morning and was hoping to colour it light purple 💜
Made this last night for Morning tea/finger food lunch today. I used the serving calculator to reduce the servings to 6 and set it in a loaf pan. It cut into 8 squares approx. 5-6cm square.
The biscuit crust I used scotch finger biscuits and added ground ginger cinnamon and mixed spice. The cheesecake filling was as the recipe and I made Nagi’s Chantilly Cream recipe, topped with cherries and fresh berries. Yum !! So good! Thank you for another great recipe, Nagi.
This was my first time making Chantilly cream. I made the stabilised version with mascarpone and it came together quickly, tastes great and piped like a dream.
I used this method on a Biscoff Ice Box Cake. It was perfect!!!!!
I didn’t have mascarpone and need to bring cream to go with your pumpkin and pecan pie for a thanksgiving celebration. I did have a very thick sour cream so added that and a very nice result!
If you store the cream in the piping bag, how do you get the tip on? The bag in your photo has no tip…
Please let me know if this recipe will hold up in Australian summer? I like this recipe and want to use it on my sons birthday cake in October.
Have you ever used peanut butter in this recipe? I love this Chantilly cream! I have been asked to make a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and I was wondering if anyone has ever used peanut butter in their cream.
I wanted something to use in between my victoria sponge. The classic is jam alone or jam and chantilly cream. However, unless you are serving it straight away the cream deflates. Google search for ‘stabilised’ whipped cream- Nagi’s recipe worked perfectly for me. I used Aldi brand mascapone always works for everything else and it worked in this recipe too. I used real vanilla pods as well- so I could see the black seeds. Thank you Nagi. Already pre-order the next book.
I made this to decorate cake cups. Wowzer! 🙏
Powdered sugar in the US has cornstarch in it. Could this be why the recipe does or doesn’t work for some? Should we use powdered sugar with cornstarch or super fine castor sugar without cornstarch in the US. I don’t know where to purchase powdered sugar without cornstarch and/or really hadn’t ever heard of powdered sugar w/o cornstarch but have heard that cornstarch stabilizes whipped cream. Maybe using superfine castor sugar or any sugar w/o cornstarch is a factor in the failure of some of the recipes? Not sure – just wondering. Maybe powdered sugar everywhere has cornstarch?
O M G its no wonder so many people are SO obese. There is WAY WAY WAY too much sugar in this. Cut it back by at least 50% You’ve already got vanilla in it and thickened cream has its own level of sweetness
Hi Nagi,
I absolutely looove your recipes including this simple but beautiful Chantilly cream! Might be a dumb question but do you know if this could be coloured with a drop of gel food colouring? I am making some mini heart cakes for mothers day and wanted to top with this but would love to pipe a pastel pink if possible. Thank you for all your time and effort you put into sharing these….you have changed my baking life ❤😘😂