The Sweet Ingredient That Will Change Your Whipped Cream Forever

One might argue that almost any dessert is made better with a little bit of whipped cream on top. Pie, ice cream sundaes, strawberry short cake...the list goes on and on.

While whipped cream from a can is in no way un-tasty, there is something really special about homemade whipped cream. The blessing of making whipped cream at home is that it's pretty hard to mess up. Heavy cream and whipping cream when whipped by hand (or with a mixer) will almost always turn into whipped cream, and when you make it at home you have the extra pleasure of determining what goes in. Do you add any flavor to it like vanilla bean or cinnamon? Do you sweeten it with sugar? Agave? Monk fruit? Or something else altogether? If you're the kind of person who doesn't like anything to be too cloying or sweet, there is a trick to ensure that your whipped cream perfectly balanced.

Recipe developer Sher Castellano has a recipe for whipped cream that will blow your socks off, and her secret to getting a balance of sweetness? She heads to the hive. According to Castellano, the secret to her whipped cream is to add honey, balanced with just a pinch of fine sea salt. She adds these to cream with a bit of vanilla extract and voila! 

According to Fine Cooking sweetening whipped cream with the delicate flavor of honey ensures that your creamy topping won't overpower the ingredients in your dessert dish — especially if it's a light fruit-centric dish like peach cobbler. Honey is also a bit better for the body than sugar, notes NBC news. Honey has a lower GI value than sugar so it doesn't spike blood sugar as quickly.

Adding a pinch of fine sea salt to your whipped cream not only balances the sweetness of the honey, but it helps with structure as well. Food Reference notes that adding a pinch of salt to your cream right before whipping helps it whip up faster. Castellano also notes that using heavy cream is preferable over traditional whipping cream as it has a better structure. Whip the cream as you ordinarily would until it forms stiff peaks and then enjoy it with your favorite dessert like this simple honey cake recipe.