Easy Chantilly Cream (Homemade Whipped Cream)

Chantilly cream at stiff peaks swirled into a small glass jar with a serving spoon on the side.

Easy Chantilly Cream (Homemade Whipped Cream)

Course: Desserts, Toppings

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings: servings (2 tbsp)

Calories: 77kcal

Author: Dini Kodippili

Tried and true, foolproof recipe for making easy chantilly cream with just 3 ingredients! Extensively tested to ensure best flavor, texture, and consistency. Perfect to use immediately as a topping for a variety of desserts.

EASY - Super simple recipe. I test multiple ways of whipping cream to find which method provides the most stability to this simple and easy whipped cream recipe, WITHOUT using stabilizers.

Makes about 1.5 - 2 cups of whipped cream.

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Ingredients

240 mL heavy cream ideally 35% fat or higher, 1 cup
25 g sugar about 2 tbsp (adjust to your taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch sea salt optional (but recommended)

Instructions

Make sure the heavy cream is chilled well. You can chill the bowl for 15 - 30 minutes as well for good measure (especially in summer or if you live in a hot climate).
Place the chilled heavy cream in the mixer bowl. Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla.
240 mL heavy cream, 25 g sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 pinch sea salt
Use a hand held electric mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment to whisk the heavy cream.
It's important to control the speed with which you aerate the cream. If the cream is aerated too quickly and too fast, it will deflate faster. If you’re working with a small amount of cream (1 - 3 cups), then whisk on low - medium speed. If you’re working with larger batches (4 cups of more), whisk on slightly higher speed (medium high).
Start whisking the cream while checking on the consistency often to determine at which stage the whipping cream is at. (See the post for an illustration and information on different stages of whipped cream.)
The whipping cream will first start to thicken and then reach soft peaks. Soft peaks is when you pull the whisk out and the peak that's formed will droop completely on itself where the tip touches the base.
If needed, use a spatula to scrape down the bowl and fold the cream to ensure it's thickening evenly.
Continue to whisk until the cream reaches mid peaks. Mid peaks is when the cream forms a peak on the whisk that folds over at about 90° or over, but the tip is visible.
At this stage, switch to manually stirring / whisking the cream. This gives you better control of achieving the right consistency WITHOUT overwhipping.
Use the whisk attachment OR a wire whisk to stir the heavy cream mixture. The whipped cream will start to thicken and stiffen further, and reach stiff-ish / firm peaks. This is when the whipped cream peak bends slightly (between 45 - 90°). The whipped cream should look smooth and creamy as well.
This is the stage at which I stop whisking the whipped cream. When manually spreading or piping the whipped cream, it will continue to aerate and stiffen further.
Use immediately.

Notes

Note about using stand mixer vs hand mixer

When I use my kitchenaid mixer, I use a minimum of 1.5 cups of heavy cream to get best results.

For 1 cup or less, I use my hand mixer, and whisk on low speed only.

Why I do not whisk to stiff peaks

I prefer not to whisk until stiff peaks (i.e. when the peak stays upright and stiff without bending), as this whipped cream will become grainy too quickly when handled even a little bit. Even stirring can cause the cream to change texture.

Keeping the cream SLIGHTLY under-whipped allows us to be able to pipe or spread or handle the cream a bit more while maintaining the desired creamy texture.

What to do if you overwhisked the whipping cream and it becomes grainy?

Add about 2 - 4 tbsp of chilled heavy cream into the whipped cream (about ⅛ - ¼ of the initial amount). Use a spatula to fold and gently mix this into the overwhipped cream.

If you need to, you can add more as well, but you'll also need to add some extra sugar to sweeten the whipped cream further.

This should make the whipped cream look smooth again. If the whipped cream is runny (soft peaks), then use a whisk to gently stir the mixture until you get to mid - firm peaks.

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