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I’m so glad you’re here! I am here to teach you how to whip cream by hand. I’ve whipped gallons of cream by hand (a little at at time!), and I promise you that it’s not hard to do and, since you can easily control how fast you are whipping, you might even end up with a more stable whipped cream!
Two Secrets About Whipping Cream
It seems as though most “recipes” for whipped cream start with either a big old stand mixer or at least a hand mixer. For large amounts of cream, that’s fine. But you can whip up to a cup or so of cream with no more than your balloon whisk, a good, sturdy bowl, and some elbow grease.
[bctt tweet=”For amounts of cream up to 1 1/2 cups, always whip by hand. More control=more stable cream.”]
Here’s a secret: warmer cream whips faster than cold cream. I’m not saying this is a good thing. It’s just something you should know. The purpose of getting everything–the cream, bowl, beaters, etc–super cold before whipping has more to do with the plasticity of the butter fat in the cream than it has to do with the speed of whipping. Since butterfat is firm at refrigerator temperatures it takes longer to whip air into it, but the resulting foam will be much more stable.
[bctt tweet=”Butterfat is firm at refrigerator temps and takes longer to whip, but that’s a good thing!”]
Whipping room temperature cream will yield a thick cream very quickly, but since you haven’t had a lot of time to pump air into it through whisking action, it will collapse pretty quickly. You also run way more of a risk of ending up with butter when whipping warmer cream.
Here’s another secret: a whisk with more wires/tines will whip up cream or egg whites faster than one with fewer. Also, a rounder shape is better for whipping than a more compact shape. The more wires, the more you can agitate the cream and whip air into it. A big round whisk will also help you get more air into your cream more quickly than a whisk with a more compact shape. If you are looking for just one whisk to own, buy a balloon whisk.
[bctt tweet=”If you are looking for just one whisk to own, buy a balloon whisk.”]
Click NEXT to learn how to whip cream by hand.
Beth Anne says
May 16, 2014 at 4:35 pmYay! Someone else does this! I’ve been known to take a container of whipping cream and a stainless steel bowl to a pot luck as part of dessert, or to produce them in our own kitchen when we have company. Each person takes a turn at whisking and in no time the cream is done. Best of all, while everyone’s taking their turn with the whisk, we all get to socialize. Great fun.
Jennifer Field says
May 16, 2014 at 4:37 pmAnd so many fewer dishes to wash too! It’s a win-win, for sure, Beth!
Anne Herrin says
May 16, 2014 at 5:09 pmLOVE this idea. We began making our own whipped cream about 2 years ago. Today, I branched out and made butter! I goggled it to get an idea of what I was suppose to do. But I would love it if I could go to you, a trusted source, when I feel like branching out!
Jennifer Field says
May 16, 2014 at 6:03 pmHooray for branching out! Happy to help however I can, Anne!
Art says
May 16, 2014 at 9:41 pmFantastic! I always whisked around and around in the bowl – and it took forever!
Jennifer Field says
May 16, 2014 at 11:15 pm=) Glad you found this helpful, Art! Yay!
Jo-Anne says
May 17, 2014 at 2:03 amI saw you do this in one of your videos and I have adopted the same practice for smaller amounts of whipped cream – so easy!
Jo-Anne says
May 17, 2014 at 2:04 amoh…like the idea of fundamental Fridays!
Jennifer Field says
May 17, 2014 at 10:54 amI’m so glad, Jo-Anne! I think it’s important for me to share the basics; the building blocks. If you have a request, feel free!
Jennifer Field says
May 17, 2014 at 10:54 amIt makes the idea of making whipped cream less daunting somehow, no? =)
mrsjennyk says
May 17, 2014 at 12:06 pmGreat idea! I’m not sure it fits in with pastry stuff, but I’m always looking for videos and pictorials on how to use a knife. I am sure that even after all these years I’m not doing it right. It seems to take half an hour to chop an onion!
Jennifer Field says
May 17, 2014 at 3:17 pmI can definitely point you in the direction of some good videos that show sound technique, Jenny!
Stacy says
May 17, 2014 at 12:48 pmWith small amounts of cream, my big ol’ Kenwood Major is just too big and the whisk doesn’t reach far enough into the bowl to do a thorough job. Love your little tips, Jenni! I think Fundamental Fridays sounds like a great idea.
Jennifer Field says
May 17, 2014 at 3:16 pmThanks, Stacy. I sort of felt the need to get back to the roots, you know? =)
Farah Akhtar says
May 19, 2014 at 8:55 amI’ve been following yours posts onfacebook for a while now and I think Fundamental Friday is a brilliant idea. Oh and… I also need some structure to relate to so I love the idea od dedicating days to each type of post.
Jennifer Field says
May 19, 2014 at 10:14 amThanks, Farah! It has taken me forever to realize that I can actually impose structure on myself! lol =)
Maggie says
May 20, 2014 at 2:16 pmYou know what Fundamental I could use some help with? Browning butter.
I seem to have mastered both dry-method and wet-method caramels and rarely screw them up any more, but for some reason when I’m making browned butter I go over the edge and ruin it almost 5 out of 10 times.
And I love browned butter in baked goods!
Jennifer Field says
May 20, 2014 at 2:18 pmThis is a great suggestion! Consider it on tap for this Friday if I can swing it. If not, definitely the following Friday, Maggie! Thanks for the suggestion. =)
Maggie says
May 21, 2014 at 10:27 amCool cool cool! I need guidance.
Jamie says
February 25, 2016 at 7:38 amHa! I shared this post on my Life’s a Feast FB page and told my readers that if they came here and read your post they would learn something. I came over and I learned a lot!! I love these posts!
Jennifer Field says
February 25, 2016 at 9:28 amHa! Thanks for vetting me and keeping me honest! =)