Homemade Stabilized Whipped Cream

An easy, 4-ingredient recipe for making stabilized whipped cream that holds its shape without deflating. You can serve this homemade whipped cream with pies, use it instead of buttercream to frost cakes and cupcakes, or pipe it into cream puffs or eclairs.

You might also love these posts on how to use piping bags and piping tips, how to make homemade vanilla extract, and how to make perfect American buttercream.

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So Why Does Whipped Cream Deflate?

When cream is whipped, air is incorporated into the cream, making it very light and fluffy as the cream expands to at least three times its original volume. The fat in the cream helps suspend the air bubbles in the cream, which is why you need the high fat content of heavy whipping cream to make whipped cream.

But fat is less dense than water, so eventually, the air bubbles will collapse as the fat and water in the cream separates. This leads to weepy, deflated whipped cream. If you’ve ever piled soft, fluffy homemade whipped cream onto a pie, only to see it turn sad and runny on the leftover pie a day later, or even just a few hours later, you know how frustrating it can be when your whipped cream deflates.

The Solution

The solution is to add a stabilizing ingredient. Powdered sugar can be used, such as when making chantilly cream, which is just a fancy term for sweetened whipped cream. But with just powdered sugar, you still have to whip the cream to a fairly stiff, almost over-whipped texture to get it to hold for longer than a couple of hours. And when you over-whip cream to make it more stable, the edges almost look a little rough and dry, rather than soft, smooth and creamy.

Some recipes use gelatin to stabilize the cream, but I’ve found that cream cheese is the simplest and best stabilizing ingredient for whipped cream. The cream cheese gives the whipped cream body and strength so that it holds its shape beautifully without deflating, with a wonderfully smooth, swirly, fluffy, perfectly pipable consistency. This easy, foolproof method makes this recipe ideal for make ahead or leftover pies and cakes that you can’t finish in one sitting.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• Cream Cheese. You’ll need full fat block cream cheese, not a tub of spreadable cream cheese. For best results, the cream cheese should also be cold from the refrigerator.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the cream and dissolves quickly, without leaving a grainy texture like granulated sugar would do.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor. You can also use vanilla bean paste, or seeds scraped from a vanilla bean, if preferred.
• Cream. Use cold heavy whipping cream, not light cream or table cream.

Instructions

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand-held electric mixer), beat the cold cream cheese with the powdered sugar for about 1 minute on medium speed, until smooth.
• Scrape the bowl down, then add the vanilla and about 1/4 cup of the cream. Beat on medium speed for 30-60 seconds to smooth out any lumps of cream cheese.
• Add the remainder of the cream, and switch to the whisk attachment. (You can also continue to use the paddle attachment, but it will take a few minutes longer).
• Whip the cream on medium high speed for several minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl down once or twice, until thick fluffy peaks form that hold their shape.
• Cover the bowl of whipped cream and keep it refrigerated until ready to use.

How to Use

Pies

If you’re making a cream pie that you’re topping with whipped cream and you know you’re going to have leftovers for the next day, using stabilized whipped cream is the way to go. You can also make the whipped cream ahead of time and keep it refrigerated in a container to use for all your Thanksgiving pies, from apple and blueberry to pumpkin and pecan. Today’s recipe is ideal for swirling and piping onto these refrigerated pies:

• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Citrus Sour Cream Pie
• Banana Cream Pie
• Coconut Cream Pie
• Key Lime Pie
• Classic Lemon Tart
• Lemon Icebox Tarts
• Grapefruit Tarts

Cakes

In the spring and summer, I love making cakes that are frosted with cream cheese whipped cream frosting instead of buttercream. It’s light, fresh, and not too sweet, heavy or rich. I’ve used variations of today’s recipe on sponge cakes like angel food cake, chiffon cake, and strawberry shortcake layer cake. You’ll also find whipped cream frosting on these cakes:

• Chocolate Mocha Cream Cake
• Pumpkin Charlotte Cream Cake
• Limoncello Cream Cake
• Chocolate Kahlua and Cream Cake
• Peaches and Cream Cake
• Blueberry Jam and Cream Chantilly Cake
• Coconut Cream Sheet Cake

Fillings

Use this vanilla whipped cream recipe for filling eclairs, cream puffs, mini tartlets or even doughnuts.

• Choux Pastry (for cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles and churros)
• Lemon Curd Tartlets
• Filled Doughnuts
• Basic Yeast Doughnuts

Recipe Variations

• Coffee Whipped Cream. Dissolve 1/2 – 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee in the cream, or more if you like a stronger coffee flavor. Add more powdered sugar, if extra sweetness is needed.
• Chocolate Whipped Cream. Add 2 tablespoons (or more) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed) to the cream. Add more powdered sugar, if extra sweetness is needed.
• Cinnamon Whipped Cream. Add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the cream. You can also try adding other spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice.
• Fruit Flavored Whipped Cream. See my chiffon cake with blueberry whipped cream for recipe using blueberry jam to flavor the cream. You can use any flavor of jam to flavor the whipped cream, or even crushed freeze dried strawberries, blueberries or raspberries.
• Maple Whipped Cream. Add 1/2 teaspoon maple extract, and a small pinch of salt.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

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