How to thicken cream?
Whipped cream is not only the basis of delicious cream for homemade pastries and cakes, but also a way to decorate your culinary masterpieces. Many housewives prefer not to buy a finished product, but beat them on their own to be sure that there are no harmful substances. Unfortunately, even the best cream does not always set into a fluffy foam, so it's worth considering how you can thicken cream at home.
Whipping without thickener
Without adding a thickener, it will only be possible to beat the product with a fat content of at least 33%. First, chill them in the refrigerator overnight. The container in which you are going to carry out manipulations, as well as the whisk of your mixer, should also be put in the refrigerator for at least an hour. After removing the dishes from the refrigerator, wipe them with a paper towel and pour 300 g of cream into it. Add 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and start beating at the lowest speed of your mixer, gradually increasing to the highest speed. After 7 minutes, turn off the mixer - whipped cream is ready. Sometimes it is recommended to add powder already in the process of whipping. You can increase the fat content of the cream by gradually heating it over low heat to a state that precedes boiling.
This does not allow the product to boil, so you may need to experiment with some of your supplies to determine the required heating time.
The heated product should be allowed to cool to room temperature, and then put in the refrigerator. After a few hours, the processed cream forms several layers. The top one will be a fatter variation of the original raw material, and the bottom will be a liquid similar to milk. Carefully pour the top layer of the mixture into a separate bowl and beat as described above.
Another way to increase the density of the product is to evaporate moisture from it in a water bath. To do this, you will need two pans of different sizes. Pour water into the larger one, and put the other one inside the first one and fill it with cream with sugar, which is added in a ratio of 1 kg for every two liters of product. Put this construction on a slow fire and cook for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
purchased product
To make cream with a fat content of 20 percent or less thick enough for a cream will not work without a thickener. You can buy a ready-made composition in the store. It is usually packaged in bags of 8 grams and is designed for a serving of 300 grams of cream. The procedure for obtaining the cream is similar to that discussed above, only instead of powdered sugar, it is necessary to pour the entire contents of the thickener sachet into a container with cream.
If you do not trust store-bought thickeners and want to use only natural products, you can try one of the following recipes.
How to do it yourself?
From starch
Commercial thickeners usually contain only two components:
- a modified variety of starch known as distarch phosphate;
- powdered sugar.
Therefore, you can make a direct analogue of the store composition using ordinary potato starch.First you need to cool the cream as described above, and then mix it with starch in the proportion of 1.5 tablespoons of starch per 300 grams of product. We add the same amount of powdered sugar as when whipping more fatty cream.
with gelatin
You can also thicken cream with regular gelatin. True, the sequence of actions in this case will be completely different, and the proportions will have to be observed with great accuracy: an insufficient amount of gelatin will not allow you to get the desired consistency, and an overdose will result in jelly, not whipped cream.
First you need to mix a teaspoon of gelatin and a glass of cream and let the mixture stand for 20 minutes. After that, you need to put the container with the mixture on low heat and heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. After removing from the stove, the mixture must be cooled.
Then start whisking about two cups of the dairy product and gradually add the prepared gelatin mixture to the container. Continue the procedure until you receive the required invoice for the product.
The disadvantage of this method is that your cream will acquire a characteristic gelatinous aftertaste. You can mask it with fruit or chocolate flavors.
With lemon juice
Another way to increase the density of cream is to add lemon juice to it. The correct proportion is one teaspoon of juice per liter of dairy product. Please note that exceeding the indicated dosage will lead to a pronounced sour taste of your cream, which is desirable to avoid.
Storage
The finished product should be stored in the refrigerator and used for a cake or other dish during the day.
See below for how to thicken cream at home.
