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.
If I plan on using this whipped cream as a filling for a funfetti birthday cake would it be ok to incorporate sprinkles into the stabilized whip cream ?
I haven’t tried it, but it would probably be okay. You’ll want to use the longer sprinkles and not the round ones (they tend to bleed their color).
Thanks for this important tip! I much rather use whipped cream frostings than heavy, sweet butter cream on many occasions, such as cupcakes!!!
I am excited to try this recipe!! Stabilized whip cream…..awesome!!
Thank you for this recipe! Can I make the whipped cream without the confectioners sugar and vanilla? Or will it destabilize the whipped cream?
You can, but it won’t be sweet or have much flavor.
Do you know of a recipe for Vegan Whipping Cream with a stabilizer ?
I don’t, sorry!
You can use a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch or if you have Ener g egg replacer that also works.
Does anyone know the carb count per serving for this recipe? I tried to do the math myself, but its not my strong suit 😅
You can use pectin instead of gelatin
it would literally be the same process except you would use the non dairy whipping cream. ive done it before with great results
Can you add food coloring to make the whipped cream a different color? Or would it change the stability?
A few drops of liquid food coloring should be fine. If you’re wanting a darker color, I would recommend using gel food coloring.
HELP!! I did something wrong. I did everything as directed with the gelitain and poured it in nice and slow but then I went to taste it, I could taste little gelitain lumps, any suggestions? Thanks…
Hi, Beth! Did you make sure to mix quickly as you were pouring it in too? If so, you can try whisking in a little of the cold cream to the gelatin to try to cool it down before adding it to the whipped cream next time.
I tried this and my whip-cream peaked then I added the gelatin mixture and now it’s runny horrible it got worse then better!!
Sorry to hear that, Dawn. Adding the gelatin mixture shouldn’t have caused it to turn runny. Was the gelatin very hot when you added it?
If I need to double the amount of whipped cream, do I alter the gelatin amount as well.
Yes, you’ll want to double the gelatin and water as well.
Hey hoping to have a question answered. I haven’t tried the recipe yet but have a friend that wants this on a layered cake for her wedding. It would be multiple three layer cakes (not tiered, just cascading on different stands). So three questions:
1. Would it hold up as the frosting between layers?
2. Would a fruit filling between layers mess with it? I’m worried the acidity in a raspberry filling would break down the whipped cream.
3. Would it be okay sitting at room temp for potentially 4-5 hours?
Thank you so much for any insight you can give me.
If the layers are heavy, it probably won’t hold up well between them. Even though it’s stabilized, it’s still soft like regular whipped cream. I haven’t tested it against a fruit filling, but it may affect it some. It would be okay to leave at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
If i want to add stabilized cream into my whipping cream gun, what would you suggest? Can I add the gelatin mixture to the liquid cream? Would it get lumpy?
Hi, Angie! I’ve never used a whipping cream gun so I’m not quite sure what you mean?
A whipping cream gun is basically a pressurized canister. You add your liquid whipping cream, sugar, vanilla or whatever spices you want. Then you screw on the lid and attach your C02 cartridge and it pressurized the canister. It is used my coffee baristas to add whipping cream on top of your drink.
I will try adding the gelatin and see how it works.
I’m familiar with them, I just wasn’t sure what you meant at first. 🙂 I think it would probably be fine to use this in one, I just haven’t tried it before.
I’ve been adding a teaspoon of instant vanilla pudding powder to my whipped cream for years and it works as a stabilizer for 2 to 3 days as a topping for cream pies. I love your tip to use unflavored gelatin to stabilize for longer than 3 days and make it pipable (not sure that’s a real word).
Thank you so much. I’ll continue to keep up with your tips and all.
My sister asked me to make cookies and cream cupcakes for her for her birthday. Would I’ve able to add crushed Oreos to the mixture and will it still keep it’s consistency?
I think that would be fine. I would make sure to crush them really fine and then just fold them in at the end.
Do you know the best way to do the gelatin without a microwave. Maybe, over a double boiler until it is warm and the gelatin is dissolved? (I don’t own a microwave)
A double boiler or a small saucepan on the stove would work fine.
If I make it the night before, will it be ok to use and pipe the next day? I’ve used this recipe before but I’ve made the cream right before serving or the morning of.
I would recommend making it, then using it on your dessert. If you refrigerate it overnight it will firm up and won’t be as easy to pipe the next day.
can you make a key lime pie the night before you need it and go ahead and add the stabilized whip cream if you leave it in the fridge overnight or would it be ill advised to keep overnight?
That would be fine to top the pie with the whipped cream the night before and refrigerate it.
The recipe I usually use for (non-stabilized) whip cream is sweetened with vanilla syrup instead of powdered sugar; if I use my normal recipe would the additional liquid prevent the gelatin from stabilizing it the same? Thanks!
It’s hard to say because it depends on how much syrup you’re using. If you’re not using very much, it may be fine.
Ive used your recipe and it worked great. Im wondering though… i want to make a drip cake using this frosting. Do you think the chocolate ganache would melt the frosting?
As long as you let the ganache cool completely, I think it would be okay. I would make sure not to use a thick layer of chocolate too.
Can you make a jello poke cake and I also put Strawberry pie filling on top then add the icing would that make it melt the cool whip with vanilla pudding did not stay thick it ran
I’m not quite sure what you mean, Tina?
Didn’t work! Followed instructions and put the gelatin in slowly – it was already a thick gel when I put it in, and the mixer didn’t break them up – whipped cream filled with little lumps of gelatin! :/ I whipped as quickly and as much as I dared, but the cream was starting to separate.
If you add gelatin that’s solidified to cold whipped cream it will cause it to be lumpy. If you make it again and your gelatin has started to solidify, I would recommend heating it for a few seconds in the microwave so it’s in liquid form. You want to make sure it’s a liquid when you add it to the whipped cream and that should fix it.
I just made this. My whipped cream became kind of spongy after I added the gelatin. It was at soft peak. I tempered the gelatin with a little whipped cream and then added that in to the bowl. It went to stiff peaks really fast but the spongy thing happened. Any idea why? Thank you!
I’m not sure why it would immediately become spongy. Did you double-check the gelatin measurements and everything? And was the gelatin in liquid form when you added it?
I did check the measurements. I tripled the recipe but can’t imagine that would be an issue. I piped a few shells last night to test it. They are holding up fine but there are little tiny bits of undisolved gelatin. I’m guessing it got it too cold when I tempered it. Still usable, just a little spongy and wet if that makes sense. Will try again. Thanks!
How can I add peanut butter to make it peanut flavor whipped cream without messing up the receipe?
I haven’t tried it, but you may be able to mix in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter to add some flavor.
I made this stabilized whipped cream as directed. However, I found that the cooled gelatin was difficult to remove from the glass dish I dissolved it in. I heated it in the micro for only 4 seconds at a time, twice, then whisked it and set it to cool. It had become gelled by the time it was to be added to the whipped cream mixture. Any suggestions for how to do better next time?
Hi, Karen! It’s likely just cooling off too fast and firming back up. I would recommend whipping the cream to soft peaks first, then heat the gelatin just until it’s dissolved, let it cool off slightly, then go ahead and add it to the whipped cream as you’re mixing.
Can I fill and frost a ckae with this
You can use it to frost a cake, but keep in mind that it’s still soft like whipped cream so if your cake layers are too heavy it may not be the best filling option.