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whipped cream fell flat
at Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:19:02 GMT in
>, OSPAM
(JLove98905) wrote :
>I'm not quite sure what I did wrong, but my whipped cream kind of
>liquified in the fridge after I made it. I attempted to re-whip it,
>which didn't work. I used whipping cream, which was cold right out of
>the fridge, and a plastic bowl, which was room temperature. I also added
>a little bit of cocoa powder (unsweetened) to it, for chocolate flavor.
>
>What's the key to getting good stiff whipped cream? And what causes it
>to fall flat in the fridge?
The big key is to use cream marked "heavy cream", not "whipping cream".
Whipping cream, despite the name, is usually not high-fat enough to whip
properly and stay whipped. Heavy cream usually is. You want 40%+ fat. In
addition, stay away from ultra-pasteurized which tastes somewhat funny and
because of the high-temperature processing that denatures the cream doesn't
whip as well, and avoid products containing carrageenan or gums, or any
other stabilisers. Usually if they're included it's a good indication that
the cream isn't thick enough on its own merits to whip well.
As others have mentioned, a plastic bowl is also a bad idea, especially
since the cream may absorb a plasticky flavour from it. Better to use a
cold bowl, although if you've got the real deal (pure, pasteurized, heavy
cream) it's not really necessary. For chocolate flavour, btw, it's a little
better to melt some chocolate and whip it into the cream just before the
cream becomes fully stiff. The chocolate will stabilise the cream very
well.
It's also possible, if rewhipping didn't work, that you overwhipped it and
the cream separated into curds and whey. Did it return to an even fluid or
did it become a mass of lumps in a watery liquid? If the latter, you
overwhipped it. It's easy to do this with whipping cream, because it may
*never* whip fully stiff and you might well continue whipping in a futile
attempt to achieve a state it's never going to have.
--
Alex Rast
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
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