Do you enjoy making homemade whipped cream but don’t want to spend all of your time shaking the container? Are mousses, milkshakes, or other creamy desserts part of your culinary repertoire?
If so, there are several benefits to using cream chargers for cooking and baking. First of all, they are an affordable way of producing homemade whipped cream.
Furthermore, if you have ever used conventional whipped cream, then you know first-hand that it can begin to weep almost instantly on warm days. However, if you use a charger, the pressure inside the sprayer keeps air bubbles within the mixture, ensuring that it will remain stiff and creamy for longer periods.
Here Are Three Exciting Ways That You Can Use Your Cream Charger
Meringues
One type of food that benefits from the use of cream chargers is meringues. When you whip egg whites by themselves, they do not gain much volume; however, thanks to the power of nitrous oxide gas, meringues can be transformed into sturdy peaks that look like little clouds in less than a minute.
In addition, air bubbles in meringue expand when exposed to heat or added liquids, making them vulnerable to collapse if any sort of weight is placed on them; nitrous oxide prevents this by stabilizing the air bubbles for a more extended period. This allows bakers to create dessert shells or cut-out rounds that can be used as edible bowls for tasty mousse and ice cream treats.
Whipping Chocolate
Another food that can benefit from cream chargers is chocolate ganache, an incredibly popular dessert, especially during the holiday season. By itself, chocolate melts at around 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit); however, once it is warmed up further after being mixed with cream, it can melt over 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit).
At these temperatures, the oils in cocoa butter begin to emulsify with water molecules; this is why chocolate can change from a hard solid to a smooth and creamy ganache. However, once the ganache cools down, it starts solubilizing all of the ingredients together, which can cause problems when whipping it.
This is where cream chargers come in handy: nitrous oxide gas helps prevent cocoa butter molecules from re-emulsifying by keeping them separated and stable without adding too much air into the mixture, making it possible to whip up rich, decadent chocolate desserts such as truffles or mousse.
Mousses
One of the most popular desserts made with homemade whipped cream is mousses. Mousses are dense desserts made from puréed fruit or chocolate combined with whipped cream, gelatin, and other ingredients. This is why it’s so important to use high-quality heavy whipping cream for these types of desserts because they require light but creamy consistency all at once.
The benefit of using cream chargers for cooking and baking when making mousses is that you can “shock” your mousse with cold air much more quickly than if you were to shake the container by hand or whip everything together in an ice bath like many chefs advocate.
All you have to do is take out your charger, screw on one of the nozzles, press down firmly over top of your blender or mixing bowl (specifically the bottom where the blades are), and pull the trigger! Within seconds you should have a perfectly airy and smooth mousse that is ready for eating.
