Make Whipped Cream From Scratch Before Buying This Disappointing Canned Version

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Homemade whipped cream only requires three ingredients: heavy cream, sugar (either refined or powdered), and vanilla. Yet, if you just don't have time to make it from scratch, buying pre-made whipped cream at the grocery store is always a viable option. Before you head to your local store, however, you should take a look at our ranking of 6 popular canned whipped cream brands. Believe it or not, the whipped cream brand that we ranked lowest isn't even worth the $3 to $4 it costs. In fact, you'd be better off spending the time and money to make your own from scratch. That's right, Target's store-brand canned whipped cream is really that bad, as we ranked Favorite Day Original Whipped Dairy Topping as our least favorite.

While our taste tester didn't find the product completely inedible, it didn't hold up favorably to the other options tried either. The Target offering left an unpleasant aftertaste that was overly sweet and artificial. While the whipped topping maintained a pleasant texture, its obnoxious flavor made the sweetness of the whipped cream far too cloying. Should you use it on a holiday pie or to give your coffee a fall twist, it would end up imparting it with a one-note flavor profile that just reads as "sweet."

Favorite Day Original Whipped Dairy Topping has close to 4,000 ratings on Target's website, and its negative reviews paint a very interesting picture of its taste and quality. "Unfortunately, this tastes so artificial and chemically, it's horrible even with coffee," one reviewer said. "Would not recommend." Another user noted something similar, claiming that the product wasn't sweet at all but "tastes more medicinal than anything." In fact, so many mentioned the fact that the product had a chemical taste and aftertaste that we started to worry about having consumed it.

In a one-star review, another customer added, "Tastes and smells like weird chemicals, has no whipped cream flavor whatsoever." In addition, many reviewers state that they wished they had spent their money on name-brand products or had just gone ahead and made whipped cream from scratch. "This was watery, runny, and gross," another reviewer lamented, noting that they "should've just [spent] the extra dollar for the name brand."

Fortunately, making your own whipped cream at home is practically foolproof. While there are several different ways to make whipped cream, you can do it in less than five minutes using a stand mixer. Just whip heavy whipping cream or heavy cream, sugar, and pure vanilla extract together on medium-high speed for about two minutes. If you don't have powdered sugar, plain white table sugar is fine — or you can make whipped cream the way Starbucks does and use heavy cream and vanilla syrup. The key to making a perfect batch of homemade whipped cream is to keep the cream as cold as possible, ensuring a light, fluffy whipped cream.