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.
Hi Danielle,
I need to frost a 10′ inch round cake with 3 layers with whipping cream. I need to stabilize the cream as the cake has to hold up for a day.
Can you please guide me with the measurements ( quantity) of whipped cream and gelatin, as i can adjust the sugar levels accordingly.
Thanks in advance.
Hi, Nita. It’s really hard to give a suggestion, since it depends on how much you need to decorate the cake with too. This recipe will make 2 cups, I would figure out how many cups you will need and adjust the recipe as needed.
I make a cake with three layers and generally doubling the recipe is enough. And I double all the ingredients across the board including the gelatin and water. If you are also wanting enough to pipe on decorations, I would probably triple the recipe.
Is the recipe the same if you want to add food coloring?
Using a few drops of liquid food coloring should be fine. If you need to use more, I would stick with a gel food coloring just so it doesn’t thin out the whipped cream.
Hello, your description says to use beaters bur your recipe card says to use a whisk. Which fo I use, whisk or beaters? Thanks
Hi, Lydia! If you’re using a hand-held mixer, you’ll want to use the beaters (like in the picture in the post). If you’re using a stand mixer, you’ll want to use the whisk attachment.
Hi,
Can I use pectin instead of Gelatin? Also could I use cononut cream (cream from coconut milk) instead of heavy whipping cream?
Thanks
I haven’t tried pectin, but I’m not sure how well it would work because I believe it needs something acidic to work properly. The coconut cream would probably be okay though.
Thank you for your reply. Do you think
Jell-O would work instead of using gelatine.
Thanks
I haven’t tried it, but it may work.
Jello would work but of course it has sugar and flavoring in it so you’d want to adjust the sugar or possibly completely omit it,
This recipe is a blessing for me. I always fail at making whipped cream and I don’t know why. I always chill my ingredients + the ustensils before. So I’ll definitely try this! Quick question though: can I substitute the gelatin with something else, since I’m a vegetarian and using gelatin really bothers me.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I think you can probably substitute the gelatin 1:1 for agar powder.
Although this will not make the whipped cream of the same consistency, an alternate method can use cream of tartar to stabilize. It will not pipe as well as this recipe w gelatin. However adding more confectionery sugar to taste might give you a pipeable whipped cream, I don’t have measurements because I did it by taste. So I suggest you do a taste test as you are adding the confectionery sugar. A trial run is a good idea as well. Also I sometimes mix fat free 1/2&1/2 to heavy cream. Whips just fine.
could you pour a mirror glaze over this without it melting?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m not sure that it would work very well.
How would you color the stabilized whipped cream with gel coloring??
Gel food coloring would be fine. You can dip a toothpick into the gel and then drag it through the whipped cream and fold it in or mix it in on low speed.
Hi! Could this be used for frosting an ice cream cake? I need to frost the cake the night before the party so it would be in the freezer for about 18 hours before serving. Will that work? Thanks!!
I think that would be fine!
What could i do if i don’t have a microwave?
You could use a small saucepan and warm the water and gelatin on the stove top.
Thanks so much for sharing this easy peasy recipe. I tried making whipped cream a few years ago with no success and never tried again. I tried your recipe and it turned out perfect! I frosted pink velvet cupcakes and they’re delicious. Sometimes buttercream is just too sweet for me and this is a great alternative. And I can pile the frosting high! Thanks again
So happy to hear that, Angela!
Made this yesterday to pipe rosettes onto a very rich cheesecake. Recipe was very easy to follow and it came out beautifully. It was very quick to make and my entire family loved it. I was told I am no longer allowed to buy whipped cream. 😂 Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe!!!
So happy to hear that, Mariel!
I have to make a lot of mini-cheese cakes for a wedding and want to use this whipped cream w/ fruit as the decorative topping. How far ahead can I make this whipped topping, keeping it refrigerated, and ready to pipe on to my cheesecakes the morning of the wedding? Have you done that?
I would recommend waiting to make it until you’re ready to pipe it on the mini cheesecakes. If you make it, then refrigerate it, it will firm up in the refrigerator because of the gelatin and it won’t be as easy to pipe. You can pipe it on the cheesecakes the day before and just keep them refrigerated.
Hi Danielle,
Does this work for both dairy and non-dairy whipping cream?
Hi, Maureen! When you say non-dairy whipping cream are you referring to coconut cream or something else? If the non-dairy cream you’re using whips fine, I would think it would work.
I made the recipe for stabilizing whipping cream, and it worked great!! and it tastes delicious also. Thank You.
How far in advance can you make a strawberry angle food cake with this whip cream . 2 days in advance?
It’s always held up fine for me for 3-4 days, so 2 days would be okay.
I tried this recipe for Stabilized Whipped Cream, and I was delighted with the results. It lasted for days in the refrigerator. I will NEVER buy the fake again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Good Morning!
going to make this tonight….. one question. can you taste the gelatin? I’m assuming no….but if you had like a strawberry? that would be amazing! 🙂
You can’t taste the gelatin at all. I don’t have a strawberry version, you could probably add some blended freeze-dried strawberries to it 🙂
Hello!
Could I make a chocolate version of stabilized whipped cream frosting?
I haven’t tried it, but you could probably add 1-2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. You may need to add a bit more powdered sugar though since the cocoa powder can be a little bitter.
Do you know how well it works with huminity? I’m from New Mexico and have tried it over there and truned out wonderful. I just now have to make a cake in Alabama and not sure if it will turn out the same?.. Thank you!
I live in Arkansas where it’s really humid in the summer and it holds up just fine. I wouldn’t suggest putting it on a dessert and then leaving it outside or anything like that, but inside it will be fine!
Could i use this cream in my pineapple cake
You can use it as a frosting for your cake.
Do you think I would be able to do a “chocolate drip” decoration on a cake using cooled ganache?
I think it would be okay to add cooled ganache on top of it. Just keep in mind that it’s whipped cream so if there’s too much it may kind of weigh it down.
If i top my icebox cake with the cream and refrigerate overnight could i add the toppings the next day? Will it stick to this cream? Thank you!
They won’t stick, you can add the toppings anytime after you add the whipped cream.
Hi there just wondering how long the cream will hold for, I am making it the day before party and I need it to last at least 48 hours
It will hold up for two days. I would just make sure to add it to your dessert and keep it refrigerated until you’re ready to serve.
I was thinking of trying this out for my son’s bday cupcakes but he is averse to sweet frosting… would it be possible to do this with maple syrup and maple sweetened whipping cream and not use the powdered sugar? Thanks!
I haven’t tried either one, so I’m not sure. This whipped cream isn’t very sweet, but you can reduce the powdered sugar down to just 2 tablespoons.
I have been making the exact same recipe, without the gelatin, for over 50 years and it always turns out great!!
I love reading replies from other bakers. It is so helpful and so much fun. : )
Yes! I make the same recipe without the gelatin or water too if I just need some whipped cream. It works great!
hi. can i use this recipe to stabilize my cream cheese frosting? my recipe consist of cream cheese, heavy whipped cream and butter. and i was thinking to stabilize it using gelatin. will it be okay?
I honestly haven’t tried it with cream cheese frosting, so I’m not sure.
I am supposed to make a 2 tiered cake with whipped frosting. Do you think that this would work for it? I’ve seen several whipped tier cakes but they never say how the frosting was stabilized.
Yes, it would be okay to frost a layered cake. It may not work as great as a filling between layers, just because it is whipped cream and it’s soft.
Hi Danelle. Thanks for sharing recipe. I will sure try it. I will to ask, can I used it on the inside of layer cake with fondant icing as the main decoration. And how long do you think it will last without refrigating it. Thanks
Hi, Glory! I’m not quite sure what you mean? Do you mean as a filling for cake layers? If so, it is whipped cream and it’s soft so some of it may kind of squish out when you add the top layer. You can leave it out for an hour or so, but after that, I do suggest keeping it refrigerated.
Can you use this to pipe flowers with? Would you need to freeze them? Or will they hold the shape on their own.
Yes, you can! They’ll hold their shape, I would just make sure to keep it refrigerated until you plan to serve it.