Perfectly whipped crème Chantilly
Although crème Chantilly or whipped cream sweetened Chantilly style was used long before the beginning of the 20th century, it started its walk of fame around that time because it became very stylish to serve whipped cream – just like that with fruit or dessert. In the second half of the 20th century, the invention of hand-held electric mixers made whipped cream even more popular. Thanks to that, the heavy butter-based cream in French pastry slowly switched to lighter versions. BUT, although it is much easier to whisk cream with an electric whisk, not knowing how to do so properly might result in something one does not hope for. So even today, when mixing smaller quantities, it is much wiser to do it with the good old hand-held whisk with wires (as they wrote in recipes dating back to the 19th century). In that manner, you can whisk more slowly, making the cream more stable, which is very important if the cream is a part of a cake decoration or main dessert.
PS. In France, you can call it crème Chantilly only if it is made with cream with not less than 35% fat, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. Otherwise, it is just whipped cream.
400 g 35% cold sweet cream
40 g confectioners’ sugar*
vanilla powder or seeds of a vanilla pod**
pinch of sea salt to taste
cold bowl - I like to put mine in the freezer or at least in the fridge
In a cold bowl, pour in the cream, add a pinch of salt and 1/3 of sugar. Whisk with a hand balloon whisk for a minute and add the next third of sugar. Whisk for one more minute. Add the rest of the sugar. Continue whisking until your desired peaks form, which might take up to seven minutes and a lot of muscle strength.
* This is important as confectioners' sugar (called powdered sugar too) makes the cream light, whereas using caster sugar makes it heavy and we do not want that.
** If you wish a deeper and more earthy taste, add the bean and pods to the cream the day before and let it sit (closed) in the fridge for 12 hours.