Easy Homemade Whipped Cream

Growing up, my mother never purchased whipped cream in a can. She always made homemade whipped cream, as did her mother — my grandmother — before her using heavy whipping cream and a hand mixer. Eventually she upgraded to a handheld electric mixer and then let me like the beaters when she was done.

They were frugal Mainers and whipped cream was a special occasion treat. So, if they were making it, they were doing it on the cheap.

Easy Homemade Whipped Cream

I never realized how easy it is to make homemade whipped cream until I tried it myself when making this red, white and blue trifle. It’s one of those seasonal recipes that simply calls for fresh whipped cream. Besides that recipes, homemade whipped cream is essential for no bake chocolate icebox cake.

Why had I been spending money, all those years, on canned whipped cream as a substitute for fresh? I should have followed my mother’s lead.

One of the reasons that making whipped cream at home was so easy? I used my Cuisinart immersion blender. My mother always used an electric, handheld beater, and I remember it taking her a long time to get the heavy, whipping cream to turn into legit whipped cream.

Years later we had a stand mixer and could make it that way with a whisk attachment. But with an immersion blender? I kid you not — it took about 30 seconds to get fluffy, gorgeous whipped cream. FYI, there are some immersion blenders with interchangeable parts, including that aforementioned whisk attachment.

Ingredients Overview

When you make homemade whipped cream, you’re working with just three ingredients:

• heavy cream aka whipping cream
• sugar (here are ideas for sugar substitutes, if you find you’re out and need another sweetener to use)
• vanilla extract

Step-by-Step Instructions

Add the two cups of cold heavy cream or whipping cream to a mixing bowl.

Add one teaspoon granulated sugar.

Add one-half teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Put the immersion blender on a low speed or the lowest speed to start then switch to the highest speed once all the ingredients in the mixture seem to be blending together. Mix until the whipped cream is fluffy, has risen and with firm peaks or stiff peaks. If you’ve ever made meringue, you know what I mean. Only have soft peaks? You need to mix it some more.

With the immersion blender on a high speed, this took only about 30 seconds. You can also use a handheld mixer or a countertop one like a KitchenAid.

Notes

This recipe for homemade whipped cream is so easy you can even leave it for the last minute, right before you serve your dessert.

My mother always used a chilled bowl for making whipped cream. That is, she would take a wide bowl and put it in the freezer, if she needed it to get to a cold temperature fast, or the fridge so it could chill. I didn’t use this trick and it still came out perfectly.

If you’re worried that some of the sugar may have fallen to the bottom of the bowl, you can use a rubber spatula to scrape around the bowl and then blend again.

Also, the whipped cream kept its “heft” for a couple of hours. I expected that it would become runny and full of liquid since it had been awhile since I’d whipped it. Nope. By putting it right into the refrigerator, towards the back, it stayed perfect until hours later when I went back for seconds on dessert.

If you want to make a vegan version, try using a container or can of coconut milk with a high fat content. Light coconut milk won’t do the job. You need the fat for the whipped cream to hold together. Here are some recommendations < a href = "https://bagelsandlasagna.com/coconut-milk-for-recipes /" > coconut milk brands to try.