Easter is my very favorite day of the year, so it's only fitting to celebrate with a grand breakfast. Today, my morning was a bit rushed, so it meant chocolate-chocolate chip pancakes (made by the Mr.) with macerated strawberries and Whipped Coconut Cream before spiriting off to Easter choir. I'm so happy to share my Whipped Coconut Cream recipe with you, because it's a quick, simple way to adorn everything from desserts to pancakes, and I'm convinced it will increase your culinary prowess a hundredfold. I used to love Soyatoo!, but it's expensive, and so much nicer to make it yourself instead of relying on packaged stuff. And just look at those billows below--you can't get that from a can. Lovely!
Whipped Coconut Creamabout 2 cups
The cream skimmed from coconut milk transforms into rich fluff and holds up fantastically, perfect for dolloping onto your favorite desserts. This recipe yields a lightly-sweetened topping; add a teaspoon more sugar if you prefer a sweeter version.
1 can (14 ounces) full-fat coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar or evaporated cane juice
½ teaspoon vanilla, rum, or other flavoring
Place a medium bowl (glass, metal, or ceramic are all fine) and beaters of an electric hand mixer in the freezer to chill.
Refrigerate coconut milk, in the unopened can, for at least an hour, or freeze for about 20 minutes. Be careful not to agitate the can too much as you do this; you want the fattier “cream” to rise to the top, leaving thinner coconut liquid underneath, and shaking it will prevent this.
Remove from refrigerator or freezer, and carefully open the can. Using a small spoon, slowly skim the cream from the top, and transfer to the chilled bowl. You should get about half the can before the thin liquid appears underneath; try not to include any of this. Reserve remaining coconut milk for another use (it's great in smoothies).
Add sugar and vanilla or flavoring, and begin whisking with the chilled beaters of an electric hand mixer. The cream is done when it thickens and soft peaks form when a beater is lifted. Stiff peaks may be achieved if the coconut milk is particularly high-fat, but don’t whip the cream so long that it warms and begins to liquefy.
Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving, whisking briefly before using.
Happy Easter. I hope yours is sweet and full of life!
22 comments:
wow, what a great recipe! i've been wondering about homemade whipped "cream" lately, and this looks great. thanks
Joy, this looks and sounds amazing!!! I miss whipped cream sometimes!
Wow, I can't believe you can get such good whipped cream from basically just coconut milk! Amazing! I can't wait to try it.
Looks sooo good!
I should also mention: although this says it keeps for 2 hours, it's really much longer--that's more a suggestion for an absolutely perfect texture. It's fine for 1-2 days, and doesn't "water out" like conventional whipped creams.
This morning, I accidentally left mine out in a 70-degree room, and returned 5 hours later to find that it held up wonderfully!
Do you have to use the sugar to make it work? We are sugar-free except for natural sugars in fruit and some raw honey....
ChickiePea, you could use agave or any liquid sweetener. Just add it in the final stages of whipping to ensure the cream's fluffiness. Stevia is also a great low-glycemic option, if you use it (add as you would sugar).
Whipped coconut cream is my sons favorite!!!
I needed this recipe for Scheeli's birthday cake. I failed miserably at making dairy free whipped cream and in the end bought the terrible mostly chemical and mostly dairy free whipped cream in the frozen aisle at the grocery store. I felt so guilty putting it in my dairy free, gluten free, mostly organic banana split cake.
Made this today to top off chocolate mousee. Thank you, Joy from the bottom of my heart. Sooo good.
Chickie Pea. I didn't add any sweetener and it was still so good, but I am sure hhoney would work great, too.
Alisha, in a pinch I used to use the boxed version of soyatoo, which is coconut and soy-based and whips up nicely (but still contains soy). Your banana split cake sounds lovely!
Chickie Pea, I'm so glad you liked it. The unsweetened version is also really nice on strawberries when they're perfectly ripe in summer...
Why in the world in all these recipes for Whipped Coconut Cream do they all start with canned coconut milk? Why don't they use Coconut Cream to start whith? It's about the same price...
Hi, I included your whipped cream in my list of 50 favourite vegan recipes :) Thanks!
http://www.goodnessbakeshop.com/2011/04/goodness-bakers-50-favegan-recipes.html
Hi Rus, I don't use coconut cream because it's not a common ingredient, and I suspect the consistency would be too pastry to make smooth whipped cream. I've never seen it available in a grocery store, and I don't want to recommend something that would have to be special ordered. Especially if readers are making it often, which I hope you will.
"Cream of coconut" is readily available, but it has a different texture and added sugar, so it would't be my choice for this.
GoodnessBaker, thanks so much; I'm honored to be included among those great recipes. Love your blog!
Hi!
I tried out this recipe but it failed. :(
The "cream" I wanted to take off the can was as hard as cold butter. Therefore I could not whisk anything.
The ingredients of my coconut milk were just water and coconut, no emulsifiers or anything. What were the ingredients of the coconut milk in this recipe?
Hey anon, silly question, but did you go ahead and try to whip it up? Sometimes I have particularly cold or firm cream at the top, and the whipping process smoothes it out. I actually prefer it that way, because it ensures that I have a lot of cream to use.
I've tried all sorts of coconut milks--some with stabilizers (like guar gum, etc.), and some without, and they all seem to work.
Can you use coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
I have some coconut cream and I want to make some whipped cream so I was just wondering if it worked as well... And if I have to replace the ingredients?
Hi, I asked about the sort of coconut milk some comments earlier.
Well, I tried out five different brands of coconut milk without any stabilizers, just coconut and water, and this recipe did not work on these. I tried to whip the cream for several minutes and it got just crubly.
I was a bit disappointed because I prefer such brands. But then I tried the ordinary coconut milk with emulsifiers, stabilizers and so on, and it worked perfectly right after few seconds of whipping.
So, thank you for this recipe, although it does not work on my preferred brands!
Anon #1, I'm not sure if it works with coconut cream (since coconut cream can be difficult to find, I haven't tried it). That's essentially what's created when you refrigerate the coconut milk though, so I think you can keep the same amount of sugar. I would love your thoughts if you end up trying it, since this might simplify things for people who can find coconut cream. (And again to note: coconut cream is different from cream of coconut or "cream de coco," which has added sugar.)
Anon #3, I'm sorry it was crumbly for you through so many recipes. Thank you for persevering! This info is really helpful to the rest of us. I just looked at the brands I use, and I think all of them contain guar gum. My preferred brand right now is Whole Foods 365 Organic Coconut Milk, because it separates so easily, but maybe the stabilizer is what's keeping it nice and smooth. I'm going to seek out some coconut milk with only coconut and water to be sure my results are consistent with yours, and then I'll post an update on the recipe.
Thanks for being a "recipe tester," even though that wasn't your intent!
Coconut cream is not difficult to find if you live near ethnic fod stores (Phillipines, etc.). I just bought a tetrapak of organic coconut cream yesterday, stuck it in the fridge overnight, and whipped the entire thing with maple syrup this morning. The consistency is EXACTLY that of realy whipped cream, but tastes strongly of coconut. Has anyone tried adding things: lemon rind, etc. to mask the taste?
I know this is two years old, but I just discovered this a few days ago, and I'm so grateful to have found this that I figured I'd post my own test results for any others who happen upon this post.
I tried this with Grace coconut milk (containing both a stabilizer and an emulsifier) with poor results. It never separated properly, probably because of the emulsifier, even after a night in the freezer, and the whipped cream was too loose. The texture improved a bit after being left in the fridge overnight. I tried a can of coconut milk (Longo's brand, for anyone in Canada) which contained a stabilizer but not an emulsifier, and although it didn't separate entirely, it produced thicker cream than the first can. The end result really was pretty close to perfection, but the problem here is the lower yield, caused by improper separation.
I have a can of coconut cream in the freezer which contains only coconut and water, and I'm going to try that next. I assume it will separate much more cleanly than the other products. I would have loved to test a coconut milk with only two ingredients as well, but the coconut milk contained coconut 60% and water, and the cream has coconut 70% and water...since that was the only difference, I went with the cream.
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