Learn how to make fresh sweetened homemade whipped cream with only 3 simple ingredients. With its light and billowy texture, whipped cream is the perfect topping for pies, cakes, cupcakes, crepes, cheesecake, trifles, and so much more!
After years of buying frozen whipped topping and cans of store-bought whipped cream filled with who-the-heck-knows-what, I can say with confidence that HOMEMADE whipped cream tastes 100% better in both the texture and flavor departments. Fresh whipped cream is made with just 3 simple ingredients and comes together in only a few minutes. It’s so creamy, so light, and so so so delicious.
Whipped Cream Video Tutorial
What You Need
- Electric mixer: handheld or stand mixer with whisk attachment
- Mixing bowl
- Cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- Sugar to sweeten
- Pure vanilla extract (or homemade vanilla extract)
A Note on the Sugar: Some bakers swear by granulated sugar in whipped cream; others swear by confectioners’ sugar. If you’re only working with a couple Tablespoons, it doesn’t really make a difference. But if you’re working in larger batches, you may begin to taste the granules of granulated sugar.
You could also use brown sugar, and I love doing that for certain desserts, like pecan pie cheesecake.
Did you know? Because we’re sweetening the whipped cream and flavoring it with vanilla extract, this is called crème chantilly in French. 🙂
How to Make Homemade Whipped Cream
- Start with cold heavy cream. The colder the cream, the easier and more successful it will whip. Cold cream also creates the lightest whipped cream! Slightly warm or room temperature cream does not equate to whipped cream. If you’re ambitious, you could even chill the mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla together on medium-high speed. This speed is perfect for whipped cream, which will whip air into the cream at a medium pace. I find that high speed easily over-whips cream, and low speed under-whips cream.
- Don’t walk away! Whipped cream only takes a couple minutes, but it’s only a few seconds between soft whipped cream and over-mixed whipped cream. Over-mixed whipped cream is curdled and grainy. Soft whipped cream, the ideal sweet spot, has a billowy and smooth texture. Stand by your mixer so you know when it’s ready.
- Look for medium peaks. What are medium whipped cream peaks? When you lift the beaters or whisk out from the bowl, a semi-sturdy peak should form on them. The peak will slightly droop down, but not lose its shape entirely. It won’t be too soft and liquid-y, it won’t be heavy and curdled. Don’t be afraid to stop the mixer and check the consistency of the whipped cream as you go.
Looking for flavored whipped cream? Try adding tequila and lime like we do for these mini margarita cheesecakes, strawberry filling like we do for strawberry shortcake cupcakes, almond extract like we do for berry icebox cake, or espresso powder and cocoa powder as detailed in this flourless chocolate cake recipe. For more ideas, check out all these flavors!
How to Fix Over-Whipped Cream
If you accidentally over-mix the cream, and it looks curdled and heavy, pour in a little bit more heavy cream, and fold it in gently by hand with a spatula until it smooths out.
Can Whipped Cream Replace Cool Whip?
Yes. This homemade whipped cream can replace Cool Whip (store-bought frozen whipped topping) in recipes. Use the same amount.
The amount of heavy cream you use doubles in volume as you whip it. So if you need 2 cups of whipped cream, use 1 cup of heavy cream. (Plus the sugar to sweeten, and vanilla extract.)
What Is the Difference Between Heavy Cream and Whipping Cream?
This can definitely be confusing! Their difference is in the percentage of milk fat. Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream contain 36% milk fat and whipping cream (without “heavy” in the title) is a little lighter, with 30% milk fat.
They can all be used interchangeably in most recipes, but when it comes to whipped cream, heavy cream/heavy whipping cream will hold its shape longer. They are ideal for homemade whipped cream.
Can I Pipe This Whipped Cream With Piping Tips?
Yes, you can pipe this whipped cream on your desserts. I recommend using large star tips and my favorites include Wilton 8B (as shown on this lemon cake), Wilton 1M (as shown on this blueberry cream pie), and Ateco 849 (as shown on this cookies & cream pie). You could also just spread whipped cream on your confections with a knife, large spoon, or icing spatula.
For a sturdier whipped cream that you could use as a stable frosting for layered cakes, try my whipped frosting. It’s exactly what we used for this cookies and cream cake, with the addition of Oreos!
What to Serve With Homemade Whipped Cream
There are so many options!
- Pavlova, of course!
- Lemon Berry Trifle
- Angel Food Cupcakes
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Banana Cream Pie
- Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding
- Cheesecake, Lemon Cheesecake, or Cheesecake Pie
- Choux Pastry
- Lemon Cake
- Pumpkin Pie or Sweet Potato Pie (or really any of your Thanksgiving pies!)
- Pumpkin Pie Bars or Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
- Crepes or on Tiramisu Crepe Cake
- Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
- Pecan Pie or Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Lava Cakes or Peanut Butter Lava Cakes
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake
- Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
- Caramel Turtle Brownie Pie
- Key Lime Pie or Key Lime Pie Bars
- Dessert Nachos
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie
And on ice cream, milkshakes, waffles, pancakes, berries, and so much more!
Print
Homemade Whipped Cream
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Learn how to make fresh sweetened homemade whipped cream with only 3 simple ingredients. With its light and billowy texture, it’s the perfect topping for pies, cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, trifles, and so much more!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tablespoons confectioners’ sugar or granulated sugar*
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3–4 minutes. Medium peaks are between soft/loose peaks and stiff peaks, and are the perfect consistency for topping and piping on desserts. If you accidentally over-whip the cream, and it looks curdled and heavy, pour in a little bit more cold heavy cream, and fold it in gently by hand with a spatula until it smooths out.
- Use immediately or cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Freezing prepared whipped cream sometimes causes it to lose its creamy texture, but it definitely works.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Use immediately or cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Freezing prepared whipped cream sometimes causes it to lose its creamy texture, but it definitely works.
- Double Batch: This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. The amount of heavy cream you use doubles in volume as you whip it. So if you need 2 cups of whipped cream, use 1 cup of heavy cream.
- Sugar: Some bakers swear by granulated sugar in whipped cream; others swear by confectioners’ (powdered/icing) sugar. You could also use brown sugar. If you’re working with just a couple Tablespoons of sugar as listed in the recipe above, it doesn’t really make a difference. But if you’re working in larger batches, you may begin to taste the granules of granulated sugar, so confectioners’ sugar is the way to go.
Keywords: whipped cream
Hi Sally (and assistants)!!!
I was wondering how you would make a chocolate whip cream?
Would you use cocoa powder or real chocolate?
I love your website and love how y’all are redoing it!
Looks great, keep up the good work!!!
★★★★★
Hi Emma! Thank you so much. 🙂 Use this chocolate ganache and follow the instructions for whipping it after it cools. There you have it– chocolate whipped cream made with real chocolate!
Can you make this topping low carb by using Stevia confectioners sugar instead?
Hi Timothy, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. The proportions would likely be different so you may need to test it a couple times, or look for a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes.
Dear Sally,
You used to have a banoffee pie recipe on your website, as pictured above. I currently cannot find it anywhere. Please help!
Hi Hannah, here’s our Banoffee Pie Recipe – enjoy!
I’ve made whipping cream for years. Lately my whip cream gets soupy after I’ve whipped, cover and put in fridge. I like it kind of stiff and I wonder if I’m over whipping? It’s creamy, doesn’t turn to curdles. So disappointed when this happens. Any tips?
Hi Kim, If it’s to soft it’s likely under-beaten. Make sure you are whipping it until there are slightly sturdy peaks when you lift your whisk (see photo above). While whipped cream is best enjoyed right away, it should be ok for up to 24 hours if covered in the refrigerator, but we don’t recommend much longer than that. You can also check that your refrigerator isn’t running too warm (no matter what, whipped cream will melt if it’s too warm!).
Hi! Could I use this recipe in a trifle? Do you recommend assembling the trifle the day im serving it so the cream doesn’t deflate?
Hi Jj! Yes, this whipped cream would be great in a trifle, but we would assemble as close to serving as possible. You could also mix the whipped cream with cream cheese to stabilize it like we did in this lemon berry trifle for a creamy cheesecake filling. Let us know what you try!
Hi!
I love this recipe (and all of your recipes in fact!) My mixer is broken and I was wondering if it is possible to make this by hand, without a mixer?
Thanks!
Hi Jen, it will take some time and require quite a bit of arm muscle endurance, but you should be able to whip cream by hand. Make sure to chill the bowl first. Working with small quantities (half the recipe) would requite less time. Let us know if you give it a try!
Thanks for the tip on chilling it beforehand. Used this to make a graham cracker cake recipe my mom made for us as kids ( and as adults too!). It was perfect!
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Great information. I am and never was a good cook, but with your instructions this is the best whipped cream I ever made. How sad is that? (I’m now a proud 85 + year old.) I will check out your other recipes.
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Whipped cream doesn’t have vanilla in it or else it is consider chantilly
And how is hevey cream and wipped cream not the same if you say you can use havey cream to make wipped cream?
This recipe uses heavy whipping cream AND sugar for whipped cream (and as you AND the recipe pointed out – vanilla to make it chantilly creamy). That’s the difference between heavy whipping cream and whipped cream. Sort of like how you can make biscuits with heavy whipping cream and self rising flour, but that doesn’t mean heavy whipping cream is the same thing as biscuits (which is the same logic you are using…). One ingredient and a series of preparation steps were added to the heavy cream to make them biscuits. Just like an ingredient (sugar) and a series of preparation steps were added to the heavy cream in this recipe to make whipped cream.
Hi Sally-
Have you ever tried this recipe with Silk’s Dairy Free Heavy Cream Alternative? I am wondering if it will hold peaks. Thank you!
Hi Meg, we haven’t, but we’d be interested to know how it works if you give it a try!
Awesome video and wow….. excellent whipped cream!
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I read somewhere that if the recipe asks for 1 cup of “whipped topping”, to make our own whipped cream, we need to half it, ie. use only half a cup of heavy cream as the whipped cream will increase in vol. Does the measurement really work this way?
Hi Chua, yes you can use this to replace store-bought whipped topping. See Can Whipped Cream Replace Cool Whip? above. It’s a 1:1 replacement of the finished whipped cream. Cream doubles in volume when you whip it this way, so if you need 1 cup of it, use 1/2 cup heavy cream.
Very delicious! This it the perfect recipe with a great taste! I am definitely saving this recipe!
Very fluffy, I couldn’t have asked for better results.
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Loved the flavor! As someone who’s never made whipped cream it was super easy to understand and it was delightfully fluffy
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This was easy peasy & it tasted so good.
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What do if it doesn’t start stiff peaking?
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I made this for the first time tonight and used a 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract. I also went with powdered sugar to avoid any granules. It came out great! It wasn’t too sweet and topped my dessert perfectly.
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Is this whipped cream stable enough so that I can decorate it and then leave it in the fridge for a few days?
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Hi Kimberly, If you’d like the whipped cream to last beyond a day, stabilizing it would be helpful. I use this method with gelatin if I need to stabilize it: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/18041/stabilized-whipped-cream-icing/
Can you use milk instead of heavy whipping cream?
No, you can’t. For it to properly whip you need a high percentage of milk fat. Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream contain 36% milk fat, any lower and it won’t whip up to the proper consistency.
I tried it both ways, sugar vs conf sugar. Both were great, but the sugar one was better. Yes, for home use, so easy, would rather just whip up a batch.
Would this work as a filling for an angel food cake?
Absolutely.
This is the only whipped cream recipe I use. The perfect amount of vanilla and sweetness with the creamy goodness. Perfect add to any pie.
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Great recipe! I always use it but I normally add a lot more sugar and vanilla extract. Thanks !
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In a year such as this, it’s truly the little things that make you feel like you are winning at life, such as making every component of a recipe from scratch — enter in this whipped topping. (I also used Sally’s graham cracker crust for my cheesecake.) It was so simple. I didn’t even make it ahead of time; I threw it together while everyone’s dinner was settling, before we cut into dessert. Very tasty, and as I think she mentions, not overly sweet.
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I just tried to make this today. I chilled the bowl in the fridge for about 15 min ahead of time. I have a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. After about 5 min of mixing (on about speed 7), I still had no peaks. It was still pretty liquid?
Update: I stuck the bowl back in the fridge for 30 min and then my husband and I took turns whisking it by hand, and eventually got the peaks! It was delicious! Maybe the bowl wasn’t cold enough or I just didn’t whisk it long enough the first time?
This whipped cream came out amazing!!! Thank you so much!
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I’ve used Splenda and it works absolutely fine, though I’d use two packets per cup and keep the vanilla.
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I LOVE this video tutorial!!!!! It is spot on with detailed instructions to help the novice cook/baker to accomplish the recipe. Plus we get to see Sally’s beautiful smile and hear her kind voice as she teaches us!!! SOOOOOOOO much better than just a video with music & hands dumping ingredients in a bowl. Thank you SO much for teaching us how to be great bakers. PLEASE make all of your videos more like this one. I follow along to learn from Sally. I could go to any baking sight if all I want is to hear catchy music and no instruction. Obviously, just my opinion and I mean it in the most kind way. I have been doing your Baking Challenge every month this year. Never been a baker but now I think I can say that I am at least a very good beginner. ALL because of you!!! Many thanks and all the best. P.S. I am making SEVERAL of your Thanksgiving recipes as I am hosting at my house for the first time. Know they will be wonderful! I’ll report back with many raves reviews, I am sure
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Hi Sally! Can I sub vanilla bean paste for the vanilla extract ?
Yes, definitely!
It was perfect! Thank you.
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This recipe is delicious, but about 10 minutes after making it I came back to it and there were word pink spots in it any idea why that was?
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It was my first time trying to make this with granulated sugar and it did not work at all; it was liquid, no matter how long I mixed it. I had to add corn starch to thicken it but I didn’t get the consistency I wanted…
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I had this happen once and I found out that my mixer had some residue in it and it was not cold. I always chill my bowl and make sure it is grease free and I have not had the problem since.