How To Make Whipped Cream For Cake Decorating

how to make stabilized whipped cream using gelatin

Stabilized whipped cream can be piped or frosted onto cakes and it won't lose its shape or melt. Best part? It only takes 5 minutes to make! Yep! You can make your own amazing whipped cream, right at home and it tastes wayyyyy better than that stuff that comes in a tub. Trust me.

whipped cream piped between two round pieces of chocolate cake on a white plate

Ingredients For Stabilized Whipped Cream Using Gelatin

This is my favorite way to make stabilized whipped cream. The gelatin sets the whipped cream so that it holds its shape, even in hot weather (as long as you keep it in the shade and for not more than 2 hours). Follow my easy step-by-step instructions below.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Begin by sprinkling your gelatin over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes to bloom. This is important so that the gelatin has a chance to fully absorb the water. If you don't wait you can get grainy lumps in your whipped cream.

powdered gelatin and water in a small clear bowl

Once the gelatin is bloomed, heat in the microwave for 5 seconds. It melts very quickly! If it's not fully melted, go another three seconds until it's melted. Don't overheat! You can tell the gelatin is melted when it's clear and you don't see any grains of gelatin anymore.

melted gelatin in a clear bowl

Add the 1 teaspoon of heavy cream to the melted gelatin and stir. This cools down the gelatin and helps it mix into the whipped cream better. If your gelatin starts to get solid then just reheat it for 5 seconds to make it liquid again.

melted gelatin with cream

Begin whipping your cream with the whisk attachment on medium, after it starts to get foamy, you can add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whip until you start to see lines developing in the whipped cream but the peaks are still very soft.

whipping cream in stand mixer

While mixing on low, start drizzling in your melted gelatin mixture. Keep mixing until your peaks are firm enough to hold their shape but do not over-mix or your whipped cream will start to curdle and turn into butter instead of whipped cream. This can happen VERY quickly after you add the gelatin so just watch the whipped cream and don't go checking your emails 😉

close up of stabilized whipped cream

This stabilized whipped cream will hold up at room temperature (up to 90F) although I don't recommend leaving it out for more than two hours because of the dairy.

It will be ok in the fridge for up to three days! Cool huh? We used to use this recipe in pastry school on top of all our tarts so we could make them ahead of time and they would still be fresh the next day for service in the restaurant.

stabilized whipped creams

Here are some other ways to stabilize whipped cream!

How to stabilize whipped cream with instant pudding mix

This is the other way I generally stabilize whipped cream if I don't want to use gelatin. The only thing I don't like is that it's not quite as smooth as using gelatin.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp instant vanilla pudding mix

how to stabilized whipped cream with instant pudding mix

Begin whipping your cream until you reach soft peaks. Then add in your vanilla pudding, sugar and vanilla extract. Continue whipping your cream until you have firm peaks but they are not crumbly.

I love the taste of this stabilized whipped cream. The vanilla pudding mix adds a nice flavor! Fold 1 cup of this stabilized whipped cream into the pastry cream and you have an excellent diplomat filling that's perfect for my cream tart recipe.

How to stabilize whipped cream using corn starch

You can use cornstarch to help thicken and stabilize your whipped cream. This is a very common and easy way of thickening and stabilizing your whipped cream to keep it from turning into a melty mess.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract

The cornstarch can leave a slightly gritty texture to the whipped cream though.

how to stabilize whipped cream

Stabilized whipped cream using cream of tartar

Cream of tartar can be used to stabilize whipped cream according to fine cooking all though I've never tried it. I'm definitely interested to see if this works.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the sugar and cream of tarter. Whip your cream to soft peaks and add in your sugar/cream of tartar and vanilla. Continue whisking to firm peaks.

how to make stabilized whipped cream

How to stabilize whipped cream with powdered milk

This is another cool way to stabilize whipped cream in a super duper easy way. If you have powdered milk around, you can use it as a stabilizer. The powdered milk adds just enough body to the cream to keep it from losing its shape.

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp powdered milk
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

close up of stabilized whipped cream in a clear bowl

Can you frost a cake with whipped cream?

The short answer is yes! You can frost a cake with stabilized whipped cream but you cannot cover it in fondant. Whipped cream has too much liquid in it and is not thick enough to support the weight of the fondant. I frosted my pink velvet cake in whipped cream and it was amazing!

pink velvet cake frosted in stabilized whipped cream with fresh raspberries on top

But you CAN cover a cake frosted with whipped cream with mirror glaze if you freeze it first in fact, this is exactly what I did for my geode mirror glaze heart!

I hope this answers all your questions about how to stabilize whipped cream! If you have any other issues you can always leave me a comment below.

Looking for more recipes? Check these out!

Pink velvet cake with whipped cream frosting
Copycat Whole Foods berry Chantilly cake
Mirror glaze cake
Chocolate mousse recipe

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Stabilized whipped cream

How to make the best stabilized whipped cream using a little bit of gelatin! So easy and your whipped cream will hold its shape for days! Check out the blog post for more ways to make stabilized whipped cream.

Print Rate Never Miss A Cake

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 1 min

Total Time: 6 mins

Serves: 4 cups

Calories: 104 kcal

Stabilized Whipped Cream from Sugar Geek Show on Vimeo.

Ingredients

Stabilized Whipped Cream

▢ 12 oz (340 g) heavy whipping cream cold
▢ 2 ounces (57 g) powdered sugar
▢ 1 tsp gelatin I use KNOX brand
▢ 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water
▢ 1 tsp vanilla
▢ 1 teaspoon heavy whipping cream

Equipment

▢
Stand mixer with whisk attachment

Instructions

Sprinkle your gelatin over the water and let bloom for 5 minutes.
Melt gelatin for 5 seconds in the microwave. If not fully melted do another 3 seconds. You can tell gelatin is melted when there are no granules of unmelted gelatin visible.

After dissolving your gelatin, add in 1 tsp of heavy cream and mix. If your gelatin is too cold, heat again until it's melted (5 seconds).
In a cold mixing bowl, whip your heavy for 15 seconds on medium speed until its foamy
Add in your powdered sugar and vanilla and continue mixing on medium speed until you reach very soft peaks, barely holding their shape.
Turn your mixer down to low and drizzle in your gelatin. Continue mixing on medium speed until your peaks are firm and holding their shape but don't over-mix to the point when your whipped cream starts to look chunky or begins turning into butter.

Notes

Whipped cream whips better if your bowl is cold and the whipping cream is straight from the fridge.

Don't over-mix your whipped cream. I like to finish whipping mine by hand so it stays nice and creamy

You cannot re-use leftover whipped cream or make it ahead of time. It needs to be used right away before the gelatin sets.

You can make stabilized whipped cream by hand using a whisk and some elbow grease! Just follow the same steps, it will just take a bit longer.

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