This thick, rich, and creamy easy homemade caramel whipped cream makes the perfect topping for ice cream, pies, and cupcakes! You only need 2 ingredients and 5 minutes to whip up a delicious and simple dessert topping.
This recipe is made with my Easy Caramel Sauce!
Why you’ll love it
- Easy and quick - just two ingredients and 5 minutes is all you need to make this homemade whipped cream
- Can be made ahead - this fresh whipped topping can be made about 2 days ahead of time
- Dollop or pipe - control the consistency with your electric mixer whether you want to dollop or spread over a pie, or pipe onto cupcakes.
- Not overly sweet - you can control the amount of caramel sauce for a personalized flavor.
Ingredients
Heavy Whipping Cream - also called heavy cream.
Easy Caramel Sauce - use my simple, no fail recipe, or you can substitute jarred, store bought caramel sauce (like the kind used for topping ice cream) for an even quicker recipe.
Caramel sauces may vary in sweetness, so adjust the amount to your liking.
Instructions
Step 1: Pour cold heavy cream into the bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium high until soft peaks form. You’ll see the cream start to form loose ribbons.
Step 2: Add caramel sauce and continue to beat on high until firm.
Step 3: Pipe as desired!
Tips
- Don’t overbeat. Once you add the caramel sauce, keep a close eye on the consistency of the cream. It’s easy to overbeat it and end up with butter instead of whipped cream!
- After mixing in the caramel sauce, taste and add more if you prefer more caramel flavor.
- Don’t let the cream sit out before whipping. It should be as cold as possible.
- Place beaters and bowl in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes before whipping. Cold cream and equipment will help the whipped cream hold its shape.
- A quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract can be used, if desired. I don’t recommend more than that, as too much will compete with the subtle flavor of the caramel.
- I like to use a hand mixer for caramel whipped cream because it allows me to “feel” the cream taking shape and prevents me from overbeating.
- A stand mixer with a whisk attachment will also work well.
- This recipe can be doubled.
How to serve homemade caramel whipped cream
This whipped cream can be used in many different recipes! Use it in place of cool whip or canned whipped cream.
Spoon onto desserts, spread onto pies, or filled in a piping bag for more precise frosting and filling. Try it on my popular No Bake Chocolate Pie!
If you don’t have a piping bag and tip, just fill a large zip top bag with the whipped cream, snip the corner to your desired size and pipe away.
Use it with cakes like this One Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, Apple Dump Cake, Guinness Chocolate cake, or Butterscotch Bundt Cake.
Top pancakes, waffles, milkshakes, hot chocolate, or as a cream puff filling.
Use as a dip for fresh fruit like strawberries and bananas or cookies like ginger snaps.
Types of cream
The difference between the types of dairy cream you’ll find at the grocery store lies in the fat content.
Heavy whipping cream and heavy cream are virtually the same. Both contain 36% milk fat. This is your best choice for making homemade whipped cream because the higher fat content helps the whipped cream keep its shape.
Whipping cream is lighter with about 30% to 35% milk fat. You can make it with this type of cream but it won’t firm up as well, and it won’t keep its shape for as long.
Half and half is exactly as it’s name says...half cream and half milk. It will not work to make whipped cream but is delicious in coffee.
Storage
Keep covered in the refrigerator for about about 2 days. Perfect for making ahead.
Freezing is not recommended.
Equipment
You won't need anything special or out of the ordinary to make this recipe, but here is a list of the tools I used.
Hand Mixer or this stand mixer
Most asked questions
If your whipped cream curdled (lumpy and separated) then you probably over beat the cream. Try adding a tablespoon at a time of unwhipped cream to the mixture and slowly beat until it smooths out and re-whip if needed.
Cool Whip is a type of imitation whipped cream known as “whipped topping”. The main differences are that Cool Whip is made with ingredients like milk, oil, and high fructose corn syrup and real whipped cream is made with just heavy whipping cream. Cool Whip is more stable and has a longer shelf life, while real whipped cream lasts only a couple of days.
Heavy whipping cream will double in volume when whipped. Therefore 1 cup of heavy whipping cream should yield 2 cups of whipped cream. One pint (2 cups) will yield about 4 cups.
Homemade Caramel Whipped Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream very cold
- 3 tablespoon Easy Caramel Sauce or more to taste
Instructions
- Pour heavy cream into a large mixing bowl.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, beat cream over medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Add Easy Caramel Sauce and continue to mix until cream is firm.
Notes
I like to use a hand mixer for caramel whipped cream because it allows me to “feel” the cream taking shape and prevents me from overbeating. A stand mixer with a whisk attachment will also work well.
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