Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the top layer of that fatty component that forms at the top surface of unhormogenized milk. What separates double cream ordinary cream is that it is a higher fat cream, with 48% butter fat. It doesn’t curdle easily when used in cooking. Double cream is the British term for heavy whipping cream. The term double cream is derived from the amount of fat found in that particular cream.
Double cream is not only delicious; it is a good cooking ingredient too, offering an excellent taste and silky texture to the dishes in which it’s used. Because of the higher fat content it holds, double cream can endure being boiled, whipped and frozen. This type of cream also stays fresh for longer and the fact that it has a high fat content entails that it does not separate when poured over hot food.
You can safely freeze double cream, although chances of it separating are not to be ignored; double cream’s higher fat content does fare better, it separates less compared to single cream and other low fat creams.
Contents
Double cream nutritional information
It is important to follow the necessary steps which helps preserve your double cream. Make sure to use your cream when it’s fresh and do check the use by date to avoid using stale cream. Keeping your double cream sealed is the best way to store your double cream as it susceptible to flavor absorption. A 100g of rich or double cream contains 1,7g protein content, 4,8g fats, 1,7g carbohydrates, 1882kg energy and 60mg calcium. This highlights that double cream is not only rich in density and taste but in nutrition too.
Double cream is not the only cream there is: There is half and half with 12% fat, single cream with 20% fat, whipping cream with 30% fat, heavy cream with 38% and clotted cream with 60% fat. Each one of these have its own distinct properties, hence for you not to mix it up with the other when purchasing, you have to check the butter fat content as well as the properties of the cream you will be purchasing.
How to make double cream?
Making homemade double cream might be quiet challenging and unreliable as it is requires a specific recipe, temperature and time when it comes to heating and cooling the cream. However, double cream can be made from heavy cream.
Ingredients
Whole milk cream
A little of elbow grease
Unsalted butter
Agar / Carrageen
Method
- Mix a 2/3 cup of whole milk with a third cup of melted butter and that elbow grease. That is how simple heavy cream is to make, to divert it to double cream, add a third teaspoon or a quarter teaspoon of agar or carrageen
- This might appear to be a labor intense but it produces the best of results
Ways of freezing double cream
Though it is best to use double cream while still fresh, it can be stored in a freezer for preservation, until the next time you need it. Before it is frozen, the molecules of double cream will be fairly distributed, but once frozen, the molecules stick together. If you freeze the double cream wrongly, it will change its original texture once it is thawed. The inability to freeze the double cream well will cause it to turn watery after thawing. Watery double cream will not whip, properly but can be used for baking instead.
Freezing small amounts of double cream
To store smaller portions, you can freeze double cream in an ice cube tray.
- Pour the double cream into the ice cube tray
- Once frozen, empty the cubes into a resealable plastic container.
- Mark the bag with the storage date (this will help you know if the frozen double cream is still safe for consumption.)
Note that double cream should be kept in the freezer for 1-3 weeks
Freezing whipped double cream
Double cream needs to be whipped before you freeze it. If frozen without being whipping, it turns to a grainy texture at defrosting it and whipping it then may not lose all of its grainy appearance. Mind on the whipping; whip enough to make the cream thick, if overdone the cream will quickly change into butter.
- Whip the double cream lightly until it is stiff
- Add one level teaspoon of sugar to the double cream. Mix one level teaspoon for each ¼ pint of double cream. Adding sugar helps preserve your double cream better. If and when you have added sugar to your double cream, at defrosting, it will be best to use for baking and as cake or dessert filling or topping.
- Form the cream into mounds. That is if you will want to use small amounts of the cream each time. Grading them into mounds ensures that you don’t thaw the whole lot of double cream when you need it. This is imperative as frozen double cream, should not be refrozen once it has been thawed.
- Place the mounds on a baking sheet or rigid sided container.
- Cover the container with a strong plastic bag that seals. The plastic has to be strong enough to hinder fridge odor from entering. Also be careful what you place your container of double cream next to.
How to freeze double cream in large amounts
- This is the easiest as you can place the carton straight into the freezer.
- Open the containers and empty them a bit, leaving 1,5cm space between the cream and the lid. The water content of the double cream expands when frozen; leaving it three quarter full permits the expansion of the cream without it bursting.
- Place in the freezer after marking the date.
Thawing double cream
- Remove your frozen double cream container from the freezer and place it in the fridge.
- Allow the product to thaw overnight. The double cream might be clumped, stir it to recombine the fat solids and water solids together again.
Thawed double should keep its whipped texture suitable for deserts and baking and it should whip just fine; you could even combine it with freshly whipped cream too. Refreezing thawed double cream is unadvisable as it will result in fat molecules breaking down.
