Whipped Icing For Cake Decorating

Whipped cream or Whipping cream frosting is a great eggless alternative to buttercream and other frosting recipes such as Swiss Meringue and Italian Buttercream. Whipped cream frosting is quick, simple and easy to make. It only requires three ingredients to make it into a light and fluffy delicious cream frosting stable enough to pipe onto desserts and cakes.

Continue to read on and watch my full Step by Step Whipped Cream Recipe video tutorial below and read along with the full written recipe below.

Whipped Cream Frosting

Whipped Cream Cupcakes.

Author: Katherine Walton

Ingredients

-250mL or 1 cup of Thickening Cream/Heavy Cream *(must be cold)

-40 grams or 4 Tablespoons of Icing Sugar/Powdered Sugar

-1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Flavouring or Lemon Flavouring*

-A few drops of gel or oil based food colouring

Directions

Place a metal or glass bowl or stand mixer bowl and the whisk attachment in the fridge for a few hours. Remove from the fridge.
Add cold straight from the fridge Thickened cream or Heavy cream into the cold bowl.
Add Icing sugar/powdered sugar into the bowl.
Add the vanilla flavouring or another flavouring if you wish.
Add a few drops of gel or oil based food colouring if you are going to colour the whipped cream frosting.
Use a stand mixer or handheld mixer with whisk attachment on low speed and whisk/mix for about 30 seconds. Stop mixer.
Use a silicone spatula and scrape the bowl to ensure the icing sugar incorporates into the cream.
Mix/whisk again on low to medium then maximum speed for approximately 1 minute. The whipped cream will begin to change and you will see bubbles forming at first.
When you begin to see ripples forming, stop the mixer and check for stiffness.
Mix/whisk again on maximum speed for approximately 10 seconds until the ripples become thicker and bigger. (Please refer to the YouTube video above in this recipe for a visual reference). Do not over mix.
It is very important to know when to stop mixing. If the whipped cream frosting is mixed for even a few extra seconds than it should be. The whipped cream will curdle and separate.
Use immediately to pipe or frost a cake. Keep refrigerated and consume within 1-2 days maximum.

Notes

How are the ingredients measured in this recipe?

In this recipe and in all of my recipes I provide all ingredients in grams and in mL (millilitres) where applicable. I also provide the ingredient quantities in METRIC cup measurements. However, be aware that cup measurements and spoon measurements vary in different countries. Therefore, I highly recommended the use of kitchen scales where applicable to measure the ingredients to achieve exactly what the recipe intends.

What is icing sugar and can I substitute it in this recipe?

Icing sugar is also known as powdered sugar and confectioners' sugar. Not to be confused or replaced with caster sugar also known as super fine granulated sugar. The icing sugar in this recipe cannot be substituted.

What is thickened cream?

Thickened cream is fresh cream which contains no less than 35% milk fat. It contains milk and milk products. In some countries it is also known as Heavy Cream.

Why does the thickened cream have to be cold for this recipe?

The thickened cream in this recipe has to be cold for two main reasons. The first reason is due to food safety. Thickened cream or heavy cream contains milk products, therefore for food safety reasons it should not be at room temperature and it should be refrigerated. The second reason the thickened cream should be cold is to help along with the whipping process and stabilisation of the frosting. Whipped cream will maintain its shape and stabilisation at cold temperatures. Heat or warm temperatures will make it more difficult to achieve a stable and thick consistency.

Why do you have to refrigerate the mixer bowl and whisk attachments?

Refrigerating the equipment and tools to be used will help to maintain the thickened cream cold and thus help achieve a stable whipped cream.

How to store this Whipped Cream and what is its shelf life?

Whipped Cream frosting should be used immediately for best results. Whipped cream will begin to soften and lose its consistency overtime making it harder to pipe decorations and for them to maintain their shape. If whipped cream is used immediately you will be able to pipe defined shapes and decorations without problems. You must also refrigerate the decorated desserts. Whipped cream can stay at room temperature for 1-2 hours maximum for food safety reasons. It should also be consumed within 24-48 hours maximum.

Why do you have to add food colouring at the beginning?

Food colouring such as gel or an oil based food colouring should be added at the beginning of the recipe to avoid over mixing at the end of the recipe. Over mixing whipped cream will curdle the mixture, making it lumpy and unsalvageable.

Troubleshooting

My whipped cream has become lumpy and separated. What did I do wrong?

Whipped cream can easily be ruined by over mixing. When making home whipped cream, you must ensure you avoid over mixing by stopping to check for firmness during the whipping stages. Whipped cream should only take a few minutes to make. Watch carefully as the thickened cream changes to be able to tell when you should stop whisking. Thickened cream will first become bubbly when whisking, after about 1-2 minutes the cream will begin to thicken and you will see visible ripples in the frosting. Once the ripples become thicker and more pronounce, you will need to stop whisking. At this stage even mixing for an extra seconds could ruin the whipped cream.

Watch the full step by step video provided with this recipe for visual instructions. If you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll be more than happy to guide you through.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE for more tutorial updates. If you have any other questions please leave me a comment at the end of this post. Thank you for reading!