Learn how simple it is to make stabilized whipped cream with this easy tutorial. This whipped cream is perfectly sweet and holds its shape for days!
If you’ve never made stabilized whipped cream before you may be wondering if it’s really necessary.
The answer: It depends.
Have you ever made whipped cream, piped it on a dessert, and then a couple hours later it just deflated or even worse it started weeping (in other words, it gets a little watery)?
Yeah, no one likes that.
That’s when it’s helpful to know how to make stabilized whipped cream. If you’ve ever needed a whipped cream recipe that held its shape, then this is the perfect recipe. This stabilized whipped cream holds its shape for a few days (without deflating) and is perfect for piping on cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, pies, and so much more.
And I promise it’s easy to make too. If you can stir things together, use a microwave, and use a mixer, then you can easily make this stabilized whipped cream!
How To Make Stabilized Whipped Cream
First things first, make sure to chill your bowl and beaters before getting started with this recipe. Why? The colder your ingredients when you make your whipped cream, the quicker it will thicken and it can even increase the volume of your whipped cream too.
You only need to chill the bowl and beaters for about 5-10 minutes, so you can do this step while you gather your ingredients.
Then, pour a few teaspoons of water in a small microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle a teaspoon of unflavored gelatin on top, and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Any brand of gelatin will work fine, just make sure that it’s unflavored. I typically use Knox unflavored gelatin and can usually find it pretty easy in the baking aisle.
After a couple of minutes, place the bowl with the gelatin in the microwave and warm it up for just a few seconds. This won’t take very long at all, only about 5-10 seconds so just keep a close eye on it. Once you remove it from the microwave, stir it around, and set it aside to cool slightly.
While the gelatin is cooling, you’ll make the whipped cream. My whipped cream recipe is just a simple mixture of heavy whipping cream (make sure it’s at least 36% fat), powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
You’ll mix everything together until it thickens and forms soft peaks, in other words, when you lift the beaters out of the bowl the whipped cream folds over. Once you’ve reached the soft peak stage, you’ll slowly pour the cooled gelatin mixture in as your mixing the whipped cream.
Trust me here, I’ve tried just dumping the mixture in and then mixing it all up and I don’t advise it. Just turn your mixer to low speed and slowly pour in the gelatin to avoid any lumps.
Then, continue mixing the whipped cream until you have stiff peaks (when you lift the beaters out of the bowl the whipped cream stands straight up and doesn’t fold over).
And that’s it!
Different Ways to Use Stabilized Whipped Cream
You can use this whipped cream to pipe on just about anything that you like too. Here are a few recipes that you can use with this recipe:
P.S. I’ll be posting the recipe for the mini lemon blueberry cheesecakes (pictured above) on Thursday!
Tips For Stabilized Whipped Cream
- It’s best to chill your bowl and beaters before getting started. This will help your whipped cream thicken up quicker and increase the volume too!
- Make sure to let your gelatin cool slightly before mixing it in, you don’t want it to be too hot when you add it to the bowl.
- Whipped cream will double in volume, so if you use 1 cup of heavy whipping cream (like this recipe) then you will end up with about 2 cups of whipped cream. You can easily half, double, or even triple this recipe to make more or less whipped cream.
- Once you make the whipped cream, you can pipe it on your dessert, then refrigerate the dessert until you’re ready to serve it. This whipped cream will hold up just fine at room temperature for a couple of hours, but it’s best to keep your dessert refrigerated and avoid leaving it anywhere too warm for too long.
Stabilized Whipped Cream
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons water
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup (240 ml) cold heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup (30 grams) powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the water to a microwave safe bowl and sprinkle the unflavored gelatin on top. Allow to sit for a few minutes.
- Transfer the gelatin mixture to the microwave and microwave until the gelatin is fully dissolved, this will just take a few seconds. Stir the mixture, then set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, combine the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Whip the mixture until it starts to thicken and soft peaks form, then turn the mixer to low speed. Slowly pour in the gelatin mixture until well combined. Increase the mixer to medium speed and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Pipe the whipped cream on your favorite dessert (or use it to frost it) and refrigerate your dessert until ready to serve.
Thank-you so much for all your tips, so helpful
I can’t wait to try some of these goodies
You’re welcome, Patt. I’d love to hear if you try any recipes! 🙂
I’m doing mini apple pie tarts that need that finishing touch. Think this would be perfect! Have you ever flavored the whippped cream with this?
Hi, Emily! I’m not quite sure what you mean about flavoring the whipped cream?
Like a cinnamon whipped cream or bourbon whipped cream. Just wondering if the ratios would need to change
If you added something like cinnamon, you wouldn’t need to change any ratios. I would try maybe 1/4-1/2 teaspoon and add more if you think it needs it. I think a little bourbon would be fine too as long as you use it sparingly. It’s fine to add extracts or flavor it, just be careful not to add too much liquid otherwise it may not thicken as well.
Thanks so much!
hi
what about chocolate whipping cream?how much cocoa powder and would anything else change?
thank you.
it looks great i am sure going to be trying it.
You could try adding 1-2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.
Hello I have a question about adding gel food coloring to this… recommended types?
I haven’t tried adding food coloring to this whipped cream, but I’ve used Wilton gel food coloring for frosting and it works well.
How many days would you say this lasts in the fridge?
It will hold its shape for 3-4 days. I do suggest using it right after you make it for what you need (piping, frosting, etc.). If you just leave it in a bowl and cover it, it will firm up because of the gelatin and be hard to stir and pipe after that.
Thanks so much! Question, do I have to add powdered sugar? Or so much anyway? Was trying for a not sweet whipped cream. Thanks 😃
I wouldn’t leave it out completely, but you can start with 1-2 tablespoons and then add more if you think it needs it.
Would it work to use a flavored gelatin to add color instead of food coloring? Was thinking of using raspberry jello to make a pink frosting…
I haven’t tried it, but it may work. I’d love to hear if you do give it a try!
I have a cream whipper (you know, the kind that takes the little nitrogen cartridge). Can I stir the gelatin mixture into my heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract and sweetener, then pour onto the container and pull the trigger for stabilized creamy bliss?
I’ve honestly never used one before, so I’m not quite sure.
I made this recipe, but when I added the gelatin to the cream, the gelatin hardened into small clumps. I was still able to use it (I took out as many of the clumps as I could), but I’m not sure what I did wrong?
Make sure you pour the gelatin in slowly and continue mixing as you’re pouring it in too. That should prevent any clumping 🙂
Thank you!!
Officially hooked on stabilized whip! Made it to frost a cake since buttercream is too much for me
So glad you liked the whipped cream, Arielle!
I’m excited to use this recipe, however I do not have a microwave. Could you suggest an alternative way to heat the gelatin/water mixture?
You could heat it in a small saucepan on the stove top.
Hi I may have missed it in your recipe but do you know how many cupcakes you can swirl pipe with your 1 cup of whipping cream recipe?
It will frost about one dozen cupcakes.
Do you have a suggestion re how many batches might be needed to frost and pipe a 2
2 layer cake? 9” layers.
It kind of depends on how much you need to decorate the cake. For a two-layer cake with 9-inch layers, I use about 4-4.5 cups of buttercream frosting to frost the cake and decorate the top. I would probably double the recipe or multiply by 2.5 so you can have enough. You could always just double it and then make more as needed. Hope that helps!
Hey thanks for this – Cook Illustrated suggestion gelatin as well – thing is I don’t have microwave and never will – can I just add hot water the the gelatin and get the same result?
You do need to let the gelatin bloom by sprinkling it on top of the water first, then you can heat it. If you don’t have a microwave you could add it to a small saucepan on the stovetop.
I had the same clumping problem as another person who commented, but mine started clumping as I heated it. I finally got most of it to heat up enough to blend, but as it cooled even a little it got really sticky and clumpy – any thoughts?
Hi, Caitlin! You might try using a slightly larger bowl for the water so that all of the gelatin touches the water when you sprinkle it on top. I find that if some of the gelatin doesn’t fully touch the water and then I try to heat it, it can cause that to happen. Hope that helps!
Can we add strawberry puree to this to make stable strawberry whipped cream frosting?
I haven’t tried it, but I find that strawberry puree can sometimes curdle frosting so it may do the same thing in this whipped cream. You could use freeze-dried strawberries and blend them up into a powder, then mix it in.
There is a recipe I’m following that has 1 c whipping cream, 1/4 c seedless raspberry preserves and 1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry liquor, (no powdered sugar at all) adding the preserves and liquor at the soft peak stage. If I added the gelatin in at that same time do you think it would work, or will the pectin in the preserves be enough to stabilize the whipping cream?
I’m not sure if the pectin would be enough, but I do think it would be okay to add the gelatin at that stage. Just make sure to pour it in slowly and mix well.
Thanks so much, the cake, including the raspberry whipped cream turned out wonderfully! Tasty too!
So glad to hear that, Sharon!
Wonderful recipe!!! I made this tonight to top my chocolate mayonnaise cake cupcakes and they are the BOMB!! Came out beautifully, piped very well, and set even better. Hubby and kids love it!! Will be using this recipe a lot in the future, thank you!!!
I’m doing a marbled wedding cake that needs the whipped cream frosting. They want a rum flavor in the frosting also. What’s the best way to do this ? Use liquor or is there a good flavored rum extract?
I would probably use a rum extract so that it doesn’t thin out the whipped cream too much. I don’t really have a specific brand that I’ve tried, but I do like Watkins extracts.
Can I use a gel dye for this ?
Yes, that would be fine.