Place cold cream of at least 30% milk fat in a cold metal bowl. If required by the recipe or to make whipped cream to serve alongside a dessert, add icing sugar.

Using a whisk or the whisk attachment to a mixer, whip the cream until it forms a soft peak when a spoon is dipped into it. This should take about 5 minutes. Vanilla extract or seeds from a vanilla bean can be added and the amount of sugar adjusted to taste once the soft peaks are formed.

Do not over whip the cream or it will be hard and grainy and begin to turn into butter. See below: