Chocolate Whipped Cream
If you’re looking for the perfect topping for your favorite chocolate dessert, then look no further! This chocolate whipped cream is smooth, creamy, and packed with chocolate flavor.
Since I’ve shared my homemade whipped cream recipe a while back, it’s been a huge reader favorite. Over the years I’ve had a few requests for a chocolate variation, so I figured it was finally time to create one!
This chocolate whipped cream honestly turned out better than I could have imagined. It’s smooth, creamy, and lightly sweetened with the perfect amount of chocolate flavor.
If you’re looking for a simple topping to add to your favorite chocolate desserts, then you need to try this recipe!
What You Need
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Make sure to use heavy whipping cream (not whipping cream!). It’s also best to use cold heavy cream, straight from the fridge.
- Powdered Sugar: I prefer to use powdered sugar in my whipped cream because it keeps it smooth while also helping to thicken and stabilize it.
- Vanilla Extract: It’s best to stick with pure vanilla extract. Vanilla bean paste would work great too!
- Cocoa Powder: Either Dutch process or natural cocoa powder will work for this recipe. If you’re not sure which one to use, I’ll explain a little more about both below.
What’s The Best Kind Of Cocoa Powder To Use?
If you remember my post earlier this week about the difference between natural and Dutch process cocoa powder, you know the two are slightly different from each other.
As you can see, the whipped cream on the left is made with Dutch process so it’s darker in color. I found that this version had a slightly stronger chocolate flavor.
The whipped cream on the right is made with natural cocoa powder and lighter in color. The flavor of this one is still chocolatey, but it’s a lighter chocolate flavor.
I personally loved the one with Dutch process, but my husband actually liked the one made with natural cocoa powder better. Either one will work great in this recipe though, so if you only have a certain kind on hand, then just use that!
How To Make Chocolate Whipped Cream
- Chill your bowl and beaters for 5 to 10 minutes: You can do this while you’re gathering your ingredients.
- Combine all ingredients: Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, sifted cocoa powder, and vanilla to the chilled mixing bowl.
- Beat to stiff peaks: I recommend mixing on low-medium speed to start. Once the mixture starts to increase in volume, increase the speed of your mixer and mix until stiff peaks form. In other words, when you lift your beaters up out of the bowl the whipped cream stands straight up.
- Serve or refrigerate: At this point you can spread or pipe it onto your favorite dessert or cover it tightly and store it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.
I personally love to add this to chocolate desserts like my French silk pie, chocolate cheesecake, or homemade chocolate cream pie.
It would also make a fantastic frosting for chocolate cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, or brownie bites (recipe coming soon!).
Recipe Tips
- Make sure to chill your mixing bowl and beaters! This helps the whipped cream thicken faster and it will also increase the volume of it.
- Remember to sift your cocoa powder! This will ensure that you don’t end up with any lumps in your finished whipped cream.
- Don’t over mix. It can go from perfectly whipped to grainy pretty quickly, so be careful. If you do over mix the whipped cream, you can gently mix or fold in a little more heavy cream to try to smooth it out.
- This whipped cream holds up surprisingly well! If you want to stabilize it though, just follow the instructions in my stabilized whipped cream recipe.
Chocolate Whipped Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (240 ml)
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar (40 grams)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder sifted (17 grams)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Note: Before getting started, place your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to chill. Once chilled, remove the bowl and beaters from the freezer.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Start mixing on medium-low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Once the mixture starts to increase in volume, increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
