How to make stabilized whipped cream 5 different ways (2024)

Stabilized whipped cream can be piped or frosted onto cakes and it won't lose its shape or melt. Best part? It only takes 5 minutes to make! Yep! You can make your own amazing whipped cream, right at home and it tastes wayyyyy better than that stuff that comes in a tub. Trust me.

Ingredients For Stabilized Whipped Cream Using Gelatin

This is my favorite way to make stabilized whipped cream. The gelatin sets the whipped cream so that it holds its shape, even in hot weather (as long as you keep it in the shade and for not more than 2 hours). Follow my easy step-by-step instructions below.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Begin by sprinkling your gelatin over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes to bloom. This is important so that the gelatin has a chance to fully absorb the water. If you don't wait you can get grainy lumps in your whipped cream.

Once the gelatin is bloomed, heat in the microwave for 5 seconds. It melts very quickly! If it's not fully melted, go another three seconds until it's melted. Don't overheat! You can tell the gelatin is melted when it's clear and you don't see any grains of gelatin anymore.

Add the 1 teaspoon of heavy cream to the melted gelatin and stir. This cools down the gelatin and helps it mix into the whipped cream better. If your gelatin starts to get solid then just reheat it for 5 seconds to make it liquid again.

Begin whipping your cream with the whisk attachment on medium, after it starts to get foamy, you can add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whip until you start to see lines developing in the whipped cream but the peaks are still very soft.

While mixing on low, start drizzling in your melted gelatin mixture. Keep mixing until your peaks are firm enough to hold their shape but do not over-mix or your whipped cream will start to curdle and turn into butter instead of whipped cream. This can happen VERY quickly after you add the gelatin so just watch the whipped cream and don't go checking your emails 😉

This stabilized whipped cream will hold up at room temperature (up to 90F) although I don't recommend leaving it out for more than two hours because of the dairy.

It will be ok in the fridge for up to three days! Cool huh? We used to use this recipe in pastry school on top of all our tarts so we could make them ahead of time and they would still be fresh the next day for service in the restaurant.

Here are some other ways to stabilize whipped cream!

How to stabilize whipped cream with instant pudding mix

This is the other way I generally stabilize whipped cream if I don't want to use gelatin. The only thing I don't like is that it's not quite as smooth as using gelatin.

1. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4. 1 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding mix

Begin whipping your cream until you reach soft peaks. Then add in your vanilla pudding, sugar and vanilla extract. Continue whipping your cream until you have firm peaks but they are not crumbly.

I love the taste of this stabilized whipped cream. The vanilla pudding mix adds a nice flavor! Fold 1 cup of this stabilized whipped cream into the pastry cream and you have an excellent diplomat filling that's perfect for my cream tart recipe.

How to stabilize whipped cream using corn starch

You can use cornstarch to help thicken and stabilize your whipped cream. This is a very common and easy way of thickening and stabilizing your whipped cream to keep it from turning into a melty mess.

1. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3. 1 teaspoon cornstarch
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The cornstarch can leave a slightly gritty texture to the whipped cream though.

Stabilized whipped cream using cream of tartar

Cream of tartar can be used to stabilize whipped cream according to fine cookingall though I've never tried it. I'm definitely interested to see if this works.

1. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3. ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the sugar and cream of tarter. Whip your cream to soft peaks and add in your sugar/cream of tartar and vanilla. Continue whisking to firm peaks.

How to stabilize whipped cream with powdered milk

This is another cool way to stabilize whipped cream in a super duper easy way. If you have powdered milk around, you can use it as a stabilizer. The powdered milk adds just enough body to the cream to keep it from losing its shape.

1. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 2 teaspoon powdered milk
3. 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Can you frost a cake with whipped cream?

The short answer is yes! You can frost a cake with stabilized whipped cream but you cannot cover it in fondant. Whipped cream has too much liquid in it and is not thick enough to support the weight of the fondant. I frosted my pink velvet cake in whipped cream and it was amazing!

But you CAN cover a cake frosted with whipped cream with mirror glaze if you freeze it first in fact, this is exactly what I did for my geode mirror glaze heart!

I hope this answers all your questions about how to stabilize whipped cream! If you have any other issues you can always leave me a comment below.

Looking for more recipes? Check these out!

Pink velvet cake with whipped cream frosting
Copycat Whole Foods berry Chantilly cake
Mirror glaze cake
Chocolate mousse recipe

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