Whipped Cream Frosting

This is a very basic whipped cream frosting that can be modified in a limitless number of ways.

Yields:  2 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of whipping cream (or heavy cream)
• 2 tablespoons of sweetener (I use xylitol in powdered form - a sugar alcohol - you can get the powdered form of any granules by placing in a coffee grinder & grind)

Directions:

• Place stainless mixing bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 min (1/2 the time in the freezer) to chill it.  I find when I don't do this, my whipped cream frosting doesn't turn out as well and takes much longer to form stiff peaks.
• Remove chilled stainless steel bowl from frig (or freezer) and place whipping cream (also add sweetener if it's a liquid) in bowl and turn mixer on "whip" setting, which is usually the highest speed setting on a hand mixer, or KitchenAid.
• Beat until stiff peaks form, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is getting whipped.
• Once you have stiff peaks, fold in the sweetener, or gently beat only until combined at the lowest beat settings of your mixer.  I tend to like to use the powdered form of sweetener and not a liquid.  
• Place in plastic bag (if you are going to pipe this onto a cake, cupcakes or other desserts), cut one corner of the baggy so you can pipe through this.  If you want it fancy, put a decorative tip into the bag before you put the whipped cream in there.  Make sure baggy is sealed, otherwise when you pipe the frosting, you'll have it squirting out of the clipped corner and out where it's not sealed.