How to Make Heavy Cream with Milk and Butter

This simple 2-ingredient recipe shows us how to make heavy cream that can be easily whipped into stiff peaks.

It often happens to me that when I wanted to make a dessert but found out that I had no heavy cream in the fridge. Given that so many dessert recipes heavily rely on heavy cream as a key ingredient, it would be great to know how to make heavy cream with milk and butter.

Additionally, if you accidentally make too much heavy cream, there is a super simple method to turn whipped heavy cream into homemade butter and butter milk.

Now, let’s dive straight into this useful recipe and witness the magical transformation among milk, butter, and heavy cream!

EQUIPMENT

• kitchen scale or measuring cups
• blender
• saucepan
• hand mixer
• mixing bowl
• plastic food wrap

INGREDIENTS  

• 150 g unsalted butter (About 1⅓ sticks of butter; no need to soften before using.)
• 150 g whole milk (About ½ cup + 2 tbsps)
• 30 g powdered sugar (Or granulated sugar; optional)
• 5 g  vanilla extract (1 tsp; optional)

How to Make Heavy Cream with Milk and Butter

1. Add butter and milk to a saucepan, cook and stir over medium low heat, turn off the heat right after the butter is fully melted. Do not bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Pour the mixture into a blender. Blend on high speed (or juice mode) for 1 minute.

3. Transfer the blended mixture to a large mixing bowl. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Cover the mixture with a piece of plastic food wrap. Tightly press the food wrap onto the surface of the mixture to prevent any water droplets from forming. Keep the mixture in the refrigerator overnight or until it’s completely cooled. Homemade heavy cream (unwhipped) can stay good in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

4. Once you are ready to whip the cream. Take the mixing bowl out from the refrigerator, remove the plastic food wrap. Optionally, add powdered sugar (or granulated sugar) and vanilla extract to sweeten the cream.

5. When the room temperature is high, you can whip the cream over an ice bath to make it easier to be whipped. Use the beater of your hand mixer to gently stir the heavy whipping cream until the powdered sugar is roughly dissolved. (In this way, the powdered sugar won’t splash out when you whip the cream at the next step.)

6. Beat the heavy whipping cream with a hand mixer on medium speed until your desired whipping stage. Whipped heavy cream can stay good in the refrigerator for about 1 to 2 days.

• Soft peaks: Lift the beaters and the cream will drop off like melted ice cream. You just start to see trails of cream, but they will gradually dissolve into the cream. (Soft peak cream is good for frosting a cake, check out my boba cake recipe, since it can create a smooth surface. You can also add it to your drinks or pancakes.)

• Medium peaks: Lift the beaters and the cream won’t drop off. When you hold your beaters up with the cream tip pointing to the ceiling, the medium peaks will slowly bend down and eventually hold its shape at 45 degrees pointing to the floor. (Medium peak cream is good for piping patterns. You can also use it as a filling for most of the desserts, such as my roll cake, strawberry cream puffs, and rainbow crape cake.)

• Stiff peaks: When you hold your beaters up with the cream tip pointing to the ceiling, the stiff peaks will hold its shape and point straight up to the ceiling. (We often use stiff peak whipped cream as a strong filling for desserts. Mochi, for example, needs a strong filling to hold its soft skin, otherwise it will collapse or turn flat.)

Milk and Butter Ratio

In this recipe, you’ll notice that the milk and butter ratio is 1:1, which is higher than many other homemade heavy cream recipes.

If you find yourself without heavy cream but need to substitute it in a recipe that calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, you can use 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of melted butter instead. However, it’s important to note that this substitute won’t whip into soft or stiff peaks regardless of how long you continue to whip it.

This is because heavy cream has a higher fat content, typically around 36-40%, which allows it to capture air bubbles and create a stable foam when whipped.

On the other hand, milk only has 3% fat content, and butter typically contains around 80% fat. Let’s do some math, if we mix milk and butter in a ratio of 3:1, the mixture’s fat content will be (3% x 3 + 80% x 1)/4, which is around 22.25%.

Now if we mix milk and butter in a ratio of 1:1, the mixture’s fat content will be (3% x 1 + 80% x 1)/2, which is around 41.5%. Due to its high fat content, comparable to that of heavy cream, the milk butter mixture will have the ability to capture air bubbles and generate a stable foam when whipped.

To summarize, if a recipe calls for heavy cream in the batter, it can be substituted with a mixture of 75% milk and 25% butter. However, when it comes to whipped cream, a 1:1 ratio of butter and milk is required.

How to Make Butter with Heavy Cream

If you find yourself with excess heavy cream or accidentally over-whip it to the point where it forms clumps, a great alternative is to transform the heavy cream into homemade butter and buttermilk.

To make homemade butter from heavy whipping cream, pour the cream into a mixing bowl and whisk it with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until it thickens into whipped cream. Continue beating for about 15 minutes until the cream separates into solid butter and liquid buttermilk.

Once the butter forms into clumps and separates from the buttermilk, strain the buttermilk from the butter using a fine-mesh strainer, and wash the butter in iced water to remove any remaining buttermilk.

Gently squeeze out excess moisture from the butter, pat it dry with a kitchen paper, and shape it into a cuboid using a piece of parchment paper.

Homemade butter can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 2 to 3 weeks.

– Some Helpful Tips:

1. As the buttermilk separates from the heavy cream during whipping, it can splatter and create a mess on your countertop. To avoid this, you can place the mixing bowl in a sink to prevent splashing and keep kitchen walls clean.

2. If you don’t have a hand mixer, you can make butter with a jar. Pour the heavy cream into the jar, leaving some room for shaking. Seal the jar tightly. Shake the jar vigorously until the cream separates into solid butter and liquid buttermilk. The shaking process typically takes 20 minutes. You arms are going to get some exercise for sure.

3. Whipping cream into butter over an ice bath can make the process slightly easier. In warmer room temperatures, achieving the solidification and separation of butter from the heavy cream can be challenging. To solve it, you can place the mixing bowl containing heavy cream over a large bowl filled with ice water.

My recipes using heavy cream:

How to Make Heavy Cream with Milk and Butter

Ms Shi and Mr He

This simple 2-ingredient recipe shows us how to make heavy cream that can be easily whipped into stiff peaks. It often happens to me that when I wanted to make a dessert but found out that I had no heavy cream in the fridge. Given that so many dessert recipes heavily rely on heavy cream as a key ingredient, it would be great to know how to make heavy cream with milk and butter.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Cooling Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 300 g

Calories 1165 kcal

Equipment

• kitchen scale or measuring cups
• blender
• saucepan
• hand mixer
• mixing bowl
• Plastic Food Wrap

Ingredients

  

• 150 g unsalted butter (About 1⅓ sticks of butter; no need to soften before using.)
• 150 g whole milk (About ½ cup + 2 tbsps)
• 30 g powdered sugar (Or granulated sugar; optional)
• 5 g  vanilla extract (1 tsp; optional)

Instructions

 

• Add butter and milk to a saucepan, cook and stir over medium low heat, turn off the heat right after the butter is fully melted. Do not bring the mixture to a boil.
• Pour the mixture into a blender. Blend on high speed (or juice mode) for 1 minute.
• Transfer the blended mixture to a large mixing bowl. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Cover the mixture with a piece of plastic food wrap. Tightly press the food wrap onto the surface of the mixture to prevent any water droplets from forming. Keep the mixture in the refrigerator overnight or until it's completely cooled. Keep the mixture in the refrigerator overnight or until it's completely cooled. Homemade heavy cream (unwhipped) can be stored in the refrigerator for about 5 days.
• Once you are ready to whip the cream. Take the mixing bowl out from the refrigerator, remove the plastic food wrap. Optionally, add powdered sugar (or granulated sugar) and vanilla extract to sweeten the cream.
• When the room temperature is high, you can whip the cream over an ice bath to make it easier to be whipped. Use the beater of your hand mixer to gently stir the heavy whipping cream until the powdered sugar is roughly dissolved. (In this way, the powdered sugar won't splash out when you whip the cream at the next step.)
• Beat the heavy whipping cream with a hand mixer on medium speed until your desired whipping stage. (*See Note1 for different whipping stages) Whipped heavy cream can typically be stored in the refrigerator for about 1 to 2 days.

Video

Notes

1. Heavy Cream Whipping Stages:

– Soft peaks: Lift the beaters and the cream will drop off like melted ice cream. You just start to see trails of cream, but they will gradually dissolve into the cream. (Soft peak cream is good for frosting a cake, check out my boba cake recipe, since it can create a smooth surface. You can also add it to your drinks or pancakes.)

– Medium peaks: Lift the beaters and the cream won’t drop off. When you hold your beaters up with the cream tip pointing to the ceiling, the medium peaks will slowly bend down and eventually hold its shape at 45 degrees pointing to the floor. (Medium peak cream is good for piping patterns. You can also use it as a filling for most of the desserts, such as my roll cake, strawberry cream puffs, and rainbow crape cake.)

– Stiff peaks: When you hold your beaters up with the cream tip pointing to the ceiling, the stiff peaks will hold its shape and point straight up to the ceiling. (We often use stiff peak whipped cream as a strong filling for desserts. Mochi, for example, needs a strong filling to hold its soft skin, otherwise it will collapse or turn flat.)

2. Stabilized cream

By mixing 1 tsp of gelatin to your homemade or store-bought heavy whipping cream, you will get stabilized whipped cream that can hold its shape under room temperature for a whole day! This type of cream is perfect as a strong mochi filling. 

Check out detailed instructions in this post. 

Keyword Homemade Heavy Cream, How to Make Heavy Cream