How to Stabilize Whipped Cream (For Pies and More) - Everyday Pie (2024)

Published: Jul 17, 2019 · Modified: May 18, 2021 by Kelli Avila · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 1 Comment

This Stabilized Whipped Cream is perfectly sweet and will hold it's shape for a few days. Adding in cream cheese results in the best whipped cream for topping any pie of your choosing.

How to Stabilize Whipped Cream

If you’ve been lucky enough to try homemade whipped cream, you’ll know it’s worlds away from anything that comes in a can. Whipped cream can add elegance to a dessert, or help to balance the flavors of a pie, like a pie with a lot of acidic fruit such as berries. There are two types of whipped cream the I use to accompany pies or other desserts: a simple whipped cream, with or without added sugar, and a stabilized whipped cream that is meant to last more than a few hours. This article will cover how to make a stabilized whipped cream.

What is Stabilized Whipped Cream?

Whipped cream that is stabilized is simply whipped cream with an added ingredient to preserve it from deflating. Typically, if you make whipped cream it needs to be used within an hour or so, because after that it starts to "weep", which means that the air that was whipped in to the cream has begun to deflate.

You can add a few different ingredients to your whipped cream to stabilize it. Some recipes call for adding gelatin. Adding gelatin adds a lot more structure. However, gelatin can change the texture of the whipped cream negatively.

For pies, ice cream, or even cakes, I prefer to add a different stabilizer: cream cheese. Cream cheese not only adds some soft structure to the whipped cream, but it also adds a layer of tang that works well when paired with many sweet dishes.

Stabilized Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• Cream Cheese: This acts as both a stabilizer and it adds a lovely tang.
• Vanilla extract: A little bit of vanilla extract really does make a huge difference in the flavor of the whipped cream. A little goes a long way here!
• Granulated Sugar: Adding sugar to whipped cream is totally optional. Per 1 cup of cream, I’d only add--at most--2 tablespoons for a slightly sweetened cream. Most of the time, I don’t add any, as the desserts you are adding whipped cream to are already sweet enough. Whipped cream should be a contrast to whatever the dessert is, so unsweetened whipped cream is preferable. If I do add it, I’ll only use granulated white sugar. I feel very strongly that adding powdered sugar to whipped cream changes the texture in a very undesirable way.
• Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream: Either one will work!

How long will stabilized whipped cream last for?

Adding cream cheese allows the whipped cream to keep for at least 2 days in the refrigerator. The cream will stay perfectly whipped for longer than 2 days, but it can start to feel a little thick after 2 days, so I recommend giving it a quick whisk by hand after that to improve the consistency.

It can keep its shape outside of the refrigerator for a few hours, but the longer the whipped cream sits out the softer it gets.

What is stabilized whipped cream good for?

Stabilized whipped cream is works well for pies, of course! It's also a great topping for cakes, cheesecake, cupcakes, and ice cream.

It's especially good for cream pies, like this Strawberry Cream Pie! Using a stabilized whipped cream on top allows you to truly make it ahead. Similarly, use this stabilized whipped cream to pipe decorations on this Creamsicle Pie or Pistachio Mascarpone Pie.

Or, just dollop this on a slice of Strawberry Cherry Slab Pie or Apple Butter Pie and you will love the creaminess it adds to those fruit pies!

If you like this baking basics recipe, check out these others:

• Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pie Crust)
• Why You Should Use a Kitchen Scale
• Simple Whipped Cream by Hand

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