Stabilized Whipped Cream is easy to throw together with just three ingredients. This recipe is perfect for topping cakes, piping, or using as a replacement for Cool Whip!
When I first started blogging, I made a ton of recipes using Cool Whip. It was such a fast and easy way to make desserts.
Over time my cooking style has evolved into a more from scratch approach, and my audience has grown to include people overseas. It seemed like a great time to provide a Cool Whip alternative.
This Stabilized Whipped cream is only three ingredients. It makes the exact same amount as an 8 ounce tub of Cool Whip. It will hold up to piping, keeping its shape for literally hours, and it is easy to double the recipe!
How to Stabilize Whipped Cream
- Freeze the bowl and the whisk. It is essential for this recipe to use a metal bowl and a metal whisk. Put them in your freezer for at least 15 minutes, but I prefer a half hour or more.
- Sift the powdered sugar with the gelatin. While you are waiting for the bowl to get cold, sift the powdered sugar and gelatin together twice using a metal sieve.
- Add the cold heavy cream and the powdered sugar mixture to the metal bowl.
- Whip it. Whip it good. With the mixer on medium high, whip the mixture until stiff peaks form.
Update
When this recipe was first published, I instructed to dissolve the gelatin into the whipped cream before combining it with the powdered sugar in the cold metal bowl. This was a method that worked really well for me, but was something readers struggled with. Some waited for the gelatin to bloom because that is necessary in some recipes that call for gelatin, though that isn’t necessary here. Other readers found that the gelatin clumped and as a result they didn’t get a truly stabilized whipped cream.
I have since changed the method. I suggest sifting the gelatin with the powdered sugar. This helps the gelatin distribute well in the final whipped cream. You will get the benefits of it stabilizing without any lumps or clumps.
Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting
This whipped cream works great as a frosting. As mentioned above, it will stay pipped in a perfect swirl for hours on end. To test this, I pipped a bit onto a plate and let it sit at room temperature. It held it’s form perfectly for 24 hours when I decided to toss it.
It will also make a great frosting just spread across a cake. Try it with our Caramel Apple Poke Cake or as a replacement to Cool Whip in our Mandarin Orange Cake.
Using in Pies
I have two great pie recipes that call for Cool Whip, and stabilized whipped cream with gelatin will work great as a replacement for it. I think it actually works better than Cool Whip in my Baileys Chocolate Pie. It is also perfect for my Shamrock Shake Pie.
FAQ
There are several sugar free “powdered sugars” on the market right now. Some recommendations would be Swerve, Monkfruit, and Stevia.
This recipe will last three days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it and it will keep in the freezer for up to three months.
Yes! Freeze this in an air tight container. Keep it frozen for up to three months. When you are ready to use it, remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
No. As mentioned above, I left this pipped at room temperature for 24 hours and it continued to hold it’s shape.
While this is not made with the same ingredients as Cool Whip, it will behave like Cool Whip in recipes. As a bonus, it tastes better than Cool Whip.
While it is up for debate if the current version of Cool Whip is truly dairy free, it is easy enough to make this version dairy free by using a soy based heavy whipping cream.
Other Uses for Stabilized Whipped Cream
Besides the recipes we have mentioned above, there are some great uses for this recipe. Use it as a replacement for Cool Whip in the following recipes:
If you make this stabilized whipped cream recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Stabilized Whipped Cream
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar sifted twice
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream cold
Instructions
- Freeze a metal bowl and the metal attachment for a your hand held mixer (or your stand mixer and metal stand bowl) for at least 15 minutes.
- While you are waiting for the bowl to get cold, use a metal sieve to sift the powdered sugar and the gelatin together twice.1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin, 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- Add the cold heavy whipping cream to the cold bowl with the powdered sugar mixture.1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Whip on high until stiff peaks appear. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This recipe will hold up as frosting on a cake, and will stay stiff when pipped for hours.
Kathy Stephan says
Will this recipe work if I just use cool whip instead of the stabilized whipped cream?
No, this recipe is meant to be a replacement for cool whip. So if you want to use cool whip, just use cool whip.
Cecile says
I love simple and quick recipes. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome!
Renee says
Hi Lisa, for this recipe, do you stir the gelatin into the cold whipping cream? If so, will the gelatin dissolve? I always assumed that you needed to “bloom” the gelatin into something warm.
Sincerely,
Renee
Nope, it dissolves into the cream and stabilizes things beautifully.
Regina says
I knew there had to be a better option than chemical filled cool whip. I used this I’m frosting with pudding and pineapple. Very good and so easy!
I’m so glad to hear that you liked it!
Kathy Harris says
How would this work out if, instead of using unflavored gelitan, you used JELL…..Oops, I shouldn’t use brand names! But lemon flavor in there sounds good.
I would want to test it before recommending this.
Donna Boetger says
Can you double this recipe?
Yup!
Christina says
OMG!! Game Changer!! I love homemade pies, but never attempted to make home made whipped cream. I have had this in my saved pinterest for a long time. I just made your recipe for my Easter white chocolate pie. It is soooo good and was soooo easy! You have made me feel like a pie goddess now! Thank you very much for posting this recipe. It is going into my keep file that will be used a lot from now on! :)
I’m so glad, Christina!
Stephanie says
I actually have a question. I’m wondering why you said to take the powdered sugar and the gelatin and sift them together, yet in the video You do not show that, you showed gelatin being added after the whipping cream, I’m confused. Which one is it?
Hi Stephanie! Fantastic question. When I first wrote this recipe, it was done as is shown in the video. It worked perfectly for me. But I had so many people tell me that it made the recipe clumpy that I shifted the procedure to the method reflected in the recipe card. Both ways work, but I think the one in the recipe card is more fool-proof.
Nessie says
If you cannot use gelatin, can agar agar do the trick? Than you
I’m sorry, I don’t have any experience working with agar agar, but from what I’m reading it does sound like it would work.
Anna Groux says
I made this and it was delicious and so easy. Cool whip is so unhealthy this is my new replacement! 💙
I’m so glad to hear it, Anna!