Light cream
Light cream is a pourable cream with about 18 to 30 percent fat, for coffee and finishing sauces. In the UK it is single cream. It will not whip.
Also called Single cream, Coffee cream, Table cream.
Light cream is a thin, pourable cream that is richer than half-and-half but much lighter than heavy cream. In the US it holds between 18 and 30 percent milk fat, and most is close to 20 percent. It is used in coffee, poured over desserts and fruit, and stirred into soups and sauces at the end of cooking. It does not have enough fat to whip.
Why it works
Fat protects the milk proteins in cream from heat and acid. Light cream has less of it than heavy cream, so when you boil it, or add it to a sauce with wine, tomato or lemon, the proteins can clump and curdle. Whipping also needs fat: about 30 percent at the least, so light cream stays liquid however long you whisk it.
How to use it
The same kind of cream has different names:
- Light cream in the US, also labeled coffee cream or table cream.
- Single cream in the UK and Ireland, with at least 18 percent fat.
- Table cream in Canada, usually 18 percent.
- In Sweden, matlagningsgrädde (cooking cream, about 15 percent) is the usual swap in cooking. Some versions are made to stand up to boiling better than plain light cream.
Light cream is not common in American shops any more. Many recipes that call for it will work with half-and-half, which is a little lighter, or with a mix of heavy cream and milk.
To add it to a hot sauce or soup, take the pan off the heat, stir a ladle of the hot liquid into the cream first, then stir the warmed cream back in. This is the same idea as when you temper eggs.
Substitutes
- Mix 1 part heavy cream with 1 part whole milk. For 240 ml (1 cup), use 120 ml of each.
- Use half-and-half for a lighter result.
- For whipping, use whipping cream or heavy cream instead. Light cream will not work.
How to store it
Keep it in the fridge and use it within about a week of opening, or by the date on the carton. Freezing makes it grainy and it separates when thawed.
Common mistakes
- Boiling it in a sauce. Add it near the end over low heat and do not let it bubble hard.
- Trying to whip it.
- Using UK single cream where a recipe says heavy or double cream. The sauce will be thin and may split.
In recipes
You will see "½ cup light cream", "150 ml single cream" and "a splash of light cream" in soups and coffee.
Recipes that use it
1 recipe from the sites we collect.
Related terms
- Half-and-halfHalf-and-half is a mix of whole milk and cream, about 10 to 18 percent fat, sold in the US and Canada. Here is what to use where you cannot buy it.
- Heavy creamHeavy cream is rich cream with at least 36 percent fat that whips well and can boil without curdling. Here are its UK, Swedish and Australian names.
- Whipping creamWhipping cream has about 30 to 36 percent fat in the US, enough to whip into soft, light peaks. Here is how it differs from heavy and double cream.
- CurdleCurdling is when milk, cream or egg sauces separate into lumps and thin liquid. It happens from too much heat or acid. Here is how to stop and fix it.
- MatlagningsgräddeMatlagningsgrädde is Swedish cooking cream, a lighter cream that does not split when boiled. What it is and what to use instead outside Sweden.
- Temper eggsTempering eggs is slowly whisking hot liquid into beaten eggs so they warm up without scrambling. It is the key step in custards and pastry cream.