Heavy Cream Vs Whipping Cream: What's The Difference?

When you're out shopping for a recipe that involves heavy cream, you'll almost certainly find the whipping cream right next to it at the grocery store. And if you haven't paid a ton of attention to the labeling, you might have even accidentally mistaken one item for the other. It's okay.

It happens! So what the heck is the difference? For starters, the names are awfully similar, which can already be confusing. And for the most part, they aren't different from each other; they're both types of dairy cream, but the main difference lies simply in the fat content between the two products. Both heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are simply the top layer of milkfat removed from whole milk prior to the homogenization process.



But per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whipping cream must contain anywhere between 30% to 36% milkfat, while heavy cream must contain at 36% milkfat. Since they're fairly similar products, you can indeed swap one for the other. Heavy cream can also whip into whipped cream, in case you're freaking out about accidentally buying it.

And if you're using cream to add a luscious texture to things like sauces or desserts, you should be more or less fine using heavy cream as , or vice versa. You can make homemade butter or whipped cream with either What's good about both whipping cream and heavy cream is that because of their intensely high levels of milkfat, you can . It's super easy — all you need to do is find some way to agitate the cream, preferably with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer (even shaking it in a jar would work, but will take longer), and you'll find that the fat solids will clump together and separate from the milk liquids.

It's not a bad way of using up that extra cream, in case you bought a surplus of it. Otherwise, the easiest thing to do with any extra cream is to , which you can use on fruit or any dessert of your choice. You can rest assured that both will whip up into a rich fluffy topping — although heavy cream is best for certain recipes or if you're making it ahead of time, as its higher fat content means it holds its shape a little better.

And now you know the difference between heavy cream and heavy whipping cream; it's all in a few percentage points of dairy fat, with no real secret to it. Recommended.