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Whipped cream makes scrumptious frosting–better than butter or shortening-based buttercream frosting. And it’s easy to make fabulous whipped cream.
How to Make Fabulous Whipped Cream
We use caramel whipped cream in place of vanilla whipped cream regularly. To make caramel whipped cream, simply substitute brown sugar for the white and caramel flavor for the vanilla. We always add a tablespoon of meringue powder to slow down melting and keep the whipped crisp and fresh looking.
One of my favorite whipped creams is caramel nut whipped cream. Make it as above but add chopped snacking nuts. The salty against the sweet and the crunch against the smooth is fabulous.
Save 25%! Get caramel flavor here.
Other luscious whipped creams include:
- Chocolate Whipped Cream
- Lemon Cloud Whipped Cream
- Strawberry Cheesecake Whipped Cream
- Peanut Butter Whipped Cream
See these and other recipes for whipped cream.
If you make whipped cream—or are going to make whipped cream frosting, you will need meringue powder. Meringue powder makes frostings and whipped creams firmer so your whipped cream doesn’t melt and your frostings on your cookies or cakes don’t mar so easy.
How to Make Whipped Cream Frosting
The problem with making whipped cream frosting is getting it to hold up, to not melt before its time. That takes a stabilizer. In researching this article, I found recipes without stabilizers. They were usually followed by “use immediately.” You want a frosting that will hold up overnight without melting.
Gelatin and meringue powder are the two most common stabilizers but cream cheese, butter, cocoa, and melted chocolate will help stabilize your frostings.
We wanted a simple way to turn luscious whipped creams into luscious frostings. The following recipe does that; it’s a standard for most whipped creams. Just use whatever color and flavor you want and you’re ready to go with a luscious frosting that will remain stable overnight. It can be piped.
Basic Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (heavy whipping cream will hold up better)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar or to taste
- 2 teaspoons flavor
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- Food color
Place all ingredients in the bowl of your stand-type mixer. Beat with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form, stopping to adjust the flavor or color as necessary.
Notice this is a simple recipe for whipped cream. Just add meringue powder
- Meringue Powder. We consider this an essential in every kitchen. Use it when you make whipped creams and frostings. For example, we use meringue powder in all our holiday cookies adding enough to make a firm frosting that doesn’t mar with handling.
- Cream Cake Mixes. These are about twice as dense as light, airy grocery store mixes. They were especially designed for cupcakes to balance with frostings and fillings.
- Bavarian Cream. This is a luscious pastry filling that can be used between cake layers and as a cupcake filling. For some applications, we mash bananas and mix with the cream to make banana cream.
- Food Color Gels. These are nine times more concentrated than liquid flavors and come in 40 brighter colors. They are less expensive than liquid colors.
- Flavors. These are commercial flavors. Find flavors you won’t see in grocery stores.
Fudgy Peanut Butter Lover’s Cupcakes
This is a great cupcake for those who like chocolate and peanut butter together. (Who doesn’t?)
We made this with a Fudgy Baby Cakes Mix. It’s a cream cake mix so it has more substance than the airy mixes you get from the store and balances better with fillings and frostings.
The frosting is made with the Chunky Peanut Butter recipe in this photo. You don’t have to use chunky peanut butter but if you like chunks, chop some peanuts and add to the frosting.
It’s filled with a peanut butter cream filling made with two cups of Bavarian Cream and 1/2 cup peanut butter mixed together. The cups were filled with a pastry bag equipped with a star tip. Simply stick the tip in the top of each cupcake and squeeze. You’ll cover the resulting holes with frosting.
Best Fudge Frosting
This is a great light frosting. It is a whipped frosting stabilized with the starch in the cocoa and in the powdered sugar plus meringue powder. If your cake or cupcakes are going to be in a warm room, add another tablespoon or two of meringue powder. This is stable enough to be piped but can be spread.
1 cup (2 cubes) butter, softened
3/4 cup Ramstadt Breda Medium Dark Cocoa or equal
5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
- Whip the butter in your stand-type mixer with a whip attachment. Add the cocoa and meringue powder and whip until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, whipping cream, and corn syrup. Whip until fluffy.
Chunky Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup Ramstadt Breda Medium Dark Cocoa or equal
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
½ cup chopped peanuts (optional)
- Whip the butter in your stand-type mixer with a whip attachment. Add the cocoa and meringue powder and whip until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, whipping cream, and corn syrup. Whip until fluffy.
About the Author
Dennis Weaver has burned food from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Miami, Florida. He is the founder of The Prepared Pantry in Rigby, Idaho and the author of How to Bake: The Art and Science of Baking available as an E-book or as a Kindle book on Amazon.
Dennis lives in Rigby, Idaho, with his wife, Merri Ann. They have five wonderful children and five beautiful granddaughters.