Whipped cream

For the band, see Whipped Cream (band).

A cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream from a pressurized can.

A slice of pumpkin pie topped with a whipped cream rose

Crème Chantilly, a french light whipped cream recipe

Whipped cream is cream that has been beaten by a mixer, whisk, or fork until it is light and fluffy. Whipped cream is often sweetened and sometimes flavored with vanilla, in which case it may be called Chantilly cream or crème Chantilly (pronounced: [kʁɛm ʃɑ̃tiji]).

Food chemistry

Cream containing 30% or more butterfat can be mixed with air, and the resulting colloid is roughly double the volume of the original cream as air bubbles are captured into a network of fat droplets. If, however, the whipping is continued, the fat droplets will stick together destroying the colloid and forming butter; the remaining liquid is buttermilk.

Confectioner's (icing) sugar is sometimes added to the colloid in order to stiffen the mixture and to reduce the risk of overwhipping.

Milk resists the whipping and does not hold the air bubbles well. Light whipping cream contains 30% to 36% butterfat and holds air bubbles when whipped. Heavy cream contains 36% or more fat.

Methods of whipping

Cream is usually whipped with a whisk, an electric or hand mixer, or (with some effort) a fork.

Whipped cream may be sold ready-to-use in pressurized containers; when the cream leaves the nozzle, it produces four times the volume of cream, twice the volume produced by whipping air into it.^{[citation needed]} Using this technique, it may also be prepared in reusable dispensers, similar to a seltzer siphon bottle, using inexpensive disposable cartridges. The whipped cream thus produced is unstable, however, and will return to a more or less liquid state within half an hour to one hour. Thus, the method is not suitable for decorating food that will not be immediately served.

Crème Chantilly

Crème Chantilly is a french light whipped cream sweetened with sugar, and often flavored with vanilla, or more rarely, simply whipped cream with no additions.. In France, whipped cream is called crème fouettée, and crème Chantilly is much lighter and fragrant than the standard whipped cream.

The original recipe is attributed to François Vatel, maître d'hôtel at the Château de Chantilly in the 17th century.

The name "Crème Chantilly" was mentioned the 18th june 1784, in a written of the Baronne d'Oberkirch, in which she described a lunch served at the hameau of the Château de Chantilly . The name Chantilly was probably used because the château had become a symbol of refined food.

Imitation whipped cream

Like other ersatz products, there are various reasons for using an imitation whipped cream or "whipped topping":

• To exclude dairy ingredients to avoid milk allergies.
• To support food taboos such as veganism or kosher meat and milk rules.
• To provide extended shelf life (often in the freezer).
• To reduce the price—though some popular brands cost twice as much as whipped cream.
• For convenience.

Whipped topping normally contains some mixture of partially hydrogenated oil, sweeteners, water, and stabilizers and emulsifiers added to prevent synieresis, similar to margarine instead of the butter fat in the cream used in whipped cream. "Cool Whip", a well-known U.S. brand of whipped topping, is a term sometimes used as a genericized trademark to refer to any brand of topping. Cool Whip comes in two formats: either in a tub or in an aerosol can pressurized with nitrous oxide.

Uses

Whipped cream or Crème Chantilly are a popular topping for desserts such as pie, ice cream, cupcakes, cake, milkshakes and puddings.

See also

• Cool Whip, a brand of imitation whipped cream
• Schlagobers, Richard Strauss's 'Whipped Cream' ballet