These are the types according to the Indian market-
1) Dairy whipping Cream
2) Non Dairy whipping cream

DAIRY WHIPPING CREAM-
As the name suggests it is the cream extracted from dairy (milk). It can be roughly categorized-

➡Light Cream- 15- 18 % dairy fat content.
Eg.- Amul (blue pack), Mother Dairy, D’lecta

1. Needs to be chilled overnight
2. Remove excess water from the pack and take out the solids in a chilled bowl
3. Beat it starting slowly, with a chilled beater over an ice bath.
4. If need be put it back in the fridge in between to chill it on hot months. Keep a close eye on it, do not over beat otherwise it will turn into butter.
5. You might have to stabilize it with some icing sugar.

Since this doesn’t have high fat content, it is not a very stable whipped cream for frosting. Though you can use it to make mousse, ice creams, to lighten cremeux, custards etc.

➡ Heavy Cream- 25- 35% fat content
Eg.- Amul (Red Pack), Purez, Ellen Vire (personal favorite)

1. Needs to be chilled at the time of use.
2. Shake the pack well before opening.
3. Pour into the chilled bowl of stand mixer or use a chilled regular bowl and chilled beater to whip it.
4. Start slowly and gradually increase the speed. Keep a close eye on it to prevent it from turning to butter.
5. Generally some brands need to be stabilized with icing sugar and some don’t. Feel your cream and go by your instincts.

This is a stable cream, you can use it for frosting, making fillings, mousse, diplomat cream, cremeux, Chantilly cream etc.

➡ Double Cream- 38-45% dairy fat content
Eg. Ellen Vire (this isn’t very popular in India just yet)
The procedure to whip it is same as above, except that it will whip even faster.

THE HIGHER THE FAT CONTENT, THE FASTER IT WILL GET WHIPPED

You all should definitely try it if you haven’t, because you’re missing out on something seriously decadent and awesome!

Now, there are many reasons why dairy whipping cream is expensive and isn’t very popular in India. Main reason is that we live in an extremely hot country. If we make fresh cream frosted cakes, it won’t stay outside for more than 4-5 hours depending upon the temp. Also it cannot be frozen, thawed and used because if you defrost frozen cream it will seize and become butter as it melts. (You can try this and see for yourself!)
Although this is the REAL CREAM.

To solve the heat problem, enter-
NON DAIRY WHIPPING CREAM-
Personal choice- Rich’s Gold.
Tropolite is fine too.

In other countries this is known as WHIP TOPPING. The word ‘Cream’ is what misleads most people in India.
This is mostly soy based, sometimes it has traces of milk fats to match the flavour of the real cream. It also contains hydrogenated vegetable fats, and other stabilizers which is the reason it can stay stable at high temperatures like ours.
It can also be frozen, defrosted and used. Which means it has a longer shelf life.

Now, is this good for you? No, definitely not! But can we use real milk cream instead? No, because that won’t work for cakes that have to travel to places in a hot car!

What to do then?

Here are some things I do for frosting cakes. These are again just suggestions, not impositions.

➡BUTTER WHIPPED CREAM
1) Whip some non dairy whipped cream and when it is almost getting whipped, stop and keep aside.
2) Beat some soft butter until it becomes fluffy, then add icing sugar. (Just like making American buttercream)
3) Fold whipped cream into this and use to frost with the choice of your flavour.

➡CREAM CHEESE WHIPPED CREAM
1) Beat cream cheese/ Mascarpone cheese till it soften, add icing sugar and beat until fluffy.
2) Fold in some whipped cream and beat lightly.
3) Use it to frost your cakes.

For both the above mentioned, you can take 1:2:1 or 1 : 2 : 1/2 ratio of butter : icing sugar : unwhipped whipping cream. Choose as per the texture you like.

➡ BAVARIAN WHIPPED CREAM
1) Make custard of your choice be it with or without egg.
2) Lighten it with whipped cream and use as a filling in your cakes.

Basically, treat your non dairy whipped cream as a lightening ingredient rather than a component itself.
The above mentioned ideas will give you a nice dairy flavour at the same time it won’t spoil as fast as dairy whipped cream.

Another suggestion- Start calling your cakes as ‘Whipped Cream cakes’ rather than ‘Fresh Cream Cakes’ because the latter is a lie!

Lastly… PLEASE FOR GOD’s SAKE stop using powdered whipped cream. That stuff tastes soapy and chemically and I don’t even know why it exists.