In today’s issue, we compiled questions about heavy cream, a common ingredient for food during special occasions like Christmas.

Q: Why is it that there are times when the heavy cream I use whipped almost instantly, and there are times when it almost took forever to whip? What could be wrong? (Patty Estanislao of Quezon City)

Adoree: Patty, maybe your heavy cream was not cold enough. It will help if you use a chilled bowl and wire whisk. The next time you need to whip cream, put the bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes then use them to whip your cream.

If you do not have that extra time, just get a bowl of ice with a little water, then put this under the bowl where you will beat your cream. This will fasten the chilling of your cream so it will whip faster.

Jun Jun: For heavy cream to whip, it must have a certain amount of fat, about 36 percent; this is one requirement that must be present. The coldness of the cream must be taken into strict account since it will not whip if the cream is not at the right temperature. So keep your heavy cream, or your whipping cream, in the refrigerator at all times.

Now, please don’t expose your creams to sudden temperature change, such as from cold to room temperature. If you do this, it will be useless for whipping.

Adoree: You can whip cream in advance then just store it in the refrigerator but you can only keep it for a day. Chilling whipped cream longer than that will ‘harden’ the cream so it will be quite difficult for you to spread it nicely on your cake.

Jun Jun: It usually spoils fast and loses its body in a day’s time. It slowly releases water and becomes less firm after one day; sometimes even after a few hours. The best way is just to whip what you really need so you can also prolong the life of your cake or dessert since the icings are sometimes the first to spoil.

Adoree: Heavy cream has to be stored at a very controlled temperature. If you store it in the refrigerator and you always open the refrigerator, the temperature is not constant enough for the cream. What some people do is to freeze the cream to ensure that it does not perish. However if you will use the cream for whipping, freezing is not advisable. Freezing tends to ‘destroy’ the fat globules in cream such that when you beat it, it just clumps together and turns out not whipped until it doubles in volume. I suggest you do not keep too much cream and if it can be done, avoid opening the refrigerator too much to control its temperature.

Jun Jun: Your cream has undergone too many changes of temperature. When you buy cream that is in the refrigerator, keep it there when you get home and don’t remove it from there even after you have used it, unless wala ng laman ang tetra pak.

Now if you bought it at room temperature then you can still keep it in your pantry until you need it; that’s when you keep it chilled a day before.

Q: What can I do to improve the consistency of my whipped cream? After some time, it tends to melt and the fruits I put on top tend to swim into the cream. I do not want to use non-dairy cream because I do not like the taste. Help! (Lulu Baliraw of Taguig)

Adoree: You can stabilize the heavy cream with unflavored gelatin. For every cup of heavy cream, you can add 1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1 tablespoon water to stabilize it. You might also want to freeze your cake so that the cream will be firmer, and it will be stable longer to hold the fruits on top. Freezing will also give a nice dimension to your dessert.

Jun Jun: Adoree’s formula can be done but go with the times; use non dairy cream. You can make a blend of it so that the taste is not very strong. I usually whip the non dairy first until it has some body, and then add the heavy cream and continue the whipping until it achieves soft to medium peaks.