Homemade Clotted Cream ~ (aka Devonshire or Cornish Cream) this luxurious spreadable cream is a must for afternoon tea and scones, but no need to buy those pricey little imported bottles, because now you can make it right in your own kitchen with my easy recipe.
“I have done this clotted cream several times now and have been successful each time. The family is looking forward to scones and clotted cream this Christmas morning.”
~ Jean
If you’ve never had a classic English afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream, you’re missing out!
Last week I was treated by the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to their classic English afternoon tea. If you’ve never had a classic afternoon tea, you need to experience it, and the roaring twenties era Biltmore is the place to do it. Every inch of the hotel is carved, muraled, frescoed, tapestried, guilded, mosaic’d and generally so eye-poppingly gorgeous that it’s easy to forget you’re in Los Angeles. I almost forgot to drink my tea!
The highlight of any afternoon tea, besides the tea, is the array of tiny treats that comes with it, and I always zero right in on the scones and clotted cream. (That’s them on level two of our tiered tea tray.)
What is Clotted cream?
If you’ve never had it, is a very thick rich spreadable form of heavy cream that was first invented ages ago by some very smart British farmers. It’s not like whipped cream, or cream cheese, it’s not like butter…it has a unique decadent consistency and a wonderful soft flavor. It’s quite thick and spreadable, and when you slather it on a freshly baked scone there is no better thing in the world.
The little pot of clotted cream that we got at the Biltmore had me craving more, and happily I made the most astounding discovery…you can actually make clotted cream at home in your own kitchen. No more tracking it down in specialty stores and paying big bucks for the imported stuff. My homemade clotted cream was actually way better (and a whole lot fresher) than the British stuff I usually buy.
What does clotted cream taste like?
Clotted cream tastes like lightly ‘cooked’ cream, but it’s not the taste it’s famous for, it’s the amazingly thick, silky texture! The mouthfeel of clotted cream is like nothing else, and definitely shouldn’t be missed.
How to make clotted cream ~
This is an amazing process, I hardly had to do anything, and I end up with a ton of the richest, silkiest clotted cream I’ve ever had.
- I used 2 pints of cream, poured them into a baking dish, and left it overnight in a 180F oven (the lowest my oven will go.)
- In the morning I let it cool and then refrigerated it for the rest of the day.
- Then I scooped it into jars, which was a little sloppy at first, and put them back in the refrigerator. Any little bit of liquid gets absorbed right into the clotted cream after you put it in the jars, and by the next morning when I had it with my scones, it was absolutely to die for.
How long does clotted cream last
- This is a fresh cream product, and will need to be stored in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 2 weeks, but honestly, it disappears faster than that every time.
What to do with the whey leftover from making clotted cream
You can use the whey in baking, for making oatmeal, or in smoothies.
I can’t say enough good things about this project, the results far exceeded my expectations and it was absurdly easy. The only catch is that you can’t use ultra-pasteurized cream, which is cream that’s been processed for a longer shelf life. Many stores only sell ultra-pasteurized cream, so you have to search a bit for regular cream. I found mine at Whole Foods. Just read the labels… if it doesn’t say ultra-pasteurized on the label, you’re good to go.
What to eat with your homemade clotted cream
You will definitely want to make scones to go with your homemade clotted cream. I have lots of recipes for scones on the blog, but this time I made Jennifer’s Cardamom Vanilla Cream Scones, and they were wonderful. Jen doesn’t use any egg in her recipe like I usually do, and I have to say I really liked the texture of her scones. And how can you go wrong with cardamom and vanilla? I highly recommend them.
Tips for making clotted cream
- Make sure your cream is not ‘ultra pasteurized’, you will need to find regular pasteurized cream at a Whole Foods or other similar store. Ultra pasteurized cream has been treated in a way that prevents it from ‘clotting’.
- An oven thermometer is an essential kitchen tool, and really comes in handy for this project. If your oven is too cool or too hot your homemade clotted cream will not ‘clot’.
Homemade Clotted Cream
Instructions
- set your oven to 180F
- Pour the cream into the casserole dish. It should come up about 1-3 inches on the side.
- Set the dish, uncovered, in the oven and leave undisturbed for 12 hours. Be sure to leave the oven on the whole time. I do this overnight.
- Remove the dish from the oven and set to cool. Then cover and refrigerate. Note: the cream may seem thin at this point, but is going to thicken considerably overnight.
- The next morning scoop the thickened cream into a jar or jars, and cover and put back in the refrigerator. You can use the leftover cream for baking..
- Spread the clotted cream on freshly baked scones.
500 Comments
Amanda
January 5, 2020 at 7:23 pmHi,
My oven is really jumpy. I can go as low as 150°f but my temperature is fluctuating by 20-30° in either direction. Will these temp fluctuations affect this recipe or are these temp differences normal in older ovens??
I am trying to find a spot on the dial that hold close to 180 as my temp dial is only marked in 50° increments.
Thanks
Sue
January 5, 2020 at 7:29 pmThere’s no predicting until you try Amanda, good luck!
LadyDeerHeart
January 5, 2020 at 9:53 amI have a yogurt maker. Can I use it instead of a instapot or oven?
Sue
January 5, 2020 at 9:58 amThe yogurt maker doesn’t have a 180F setting, so I don’t think so. Yogurt is cultured at a much lower temperature.
Antoinette
January 3, 2020 at 1:31 pmI have an instant pot, but not a yogurt setting. Do you happen to know if there is another setting that will do the same thing?
Sue
January 3, 2020 at 4:53 pmI don’t think there is, Antoinette, until they come up with a feature that let’s you set an exact temperature, which would be awesome. Your best bet is to use your oven if it can go as low as 180F.
Susan Khammash
December 31, 2019 at 10:56 amThe video shows covering the pan before putting in the oven, but the recipe says uncovered. Which is correct,
Sue
December 31, 2019 at 11:13 amYou can actually do it either way. I started out not covering the container, but these days I do, it keeps the cream softer.
Wg miller
December 30, 2019 at 3:37 amIt’s been awhile since I visited your page, but someone sent a link to a recipe & I was shocked by how cluttered & almost unreadable it’s become. I realize you want income from it, but there’s a point where readers just wont come back, certainly not for a pleasurable read. ?
Sue
December 30, 2019 at 8:06 amIt’s one of the unavoidable annoyances of publishing on the Internet, I’m afraid. I try to modulate the ads so they work for me but don’t intrude too much. If you can read the blog on desktop rather than on a mobile device I think you’ll find the adds less intrusive.
shirley
December 29, 2019 at 11:14 pmI’ve watched videos and get all kinds of different feedback. One Brit says low oven 12 hours. Another say preheat 106 C (I think he said, as the room had high ceilings and he wandered around a lot). Anyway he said to do the preheat, put the dish of cream in the center of the oven and TURN THE OVEN OFF. Leave it for 12 hours. Then the rest was same as yours. I didn’t like the brown stuff. Can’t I just scrap the white stuff off the brown stuff? I came from a farm where we always had cream topping our bottles of milk and mom made our butter, cottage cheese etc. Please email me your answer. Thank you.
Sue
January 1, 2020 at 7:23 pmIf you don’t like the crusty parts, try covering your container in the oven, that should help.
Renee
December 28, 2019 at 2:34 pmI am going to try this for sure but wondering if you can add a little bit of sugar to the cream before you put it in the oven?
Sue
December 28, 2019 at 6:27 pmI don’t think that would be a problem, but I haven’t tried it Renee.
David
December 24, 2019 at 5:09 amMy family loves clotted cream. All of the cream we can get near us is ultra pasteurized. This will definitely work, you will just not have as high a yield. At 175, my oven does an auto shutoff, so I do 12 hours at 180. However, I now have two full pounds of fresh clotted cream waiting for the scones I will make tomorrow for Christmas morning breakfast. That took two quarts of heavy ultra pasteurized cream from Brookshires (40% milkfat). I had four cups of liquid cream left, but fortunately, we all love cream in our coffee. So it is a win win ! Lol
Sue
December 24, 2019 at 7:40 amSounds perfect David, and it is good to know that ultra pasteurized cream will work if necessary, Happy Holidays!
Patti
December 4, 2019 at 5:28 pmI would add in the directions that it won’t be thick when you take it out of the oven but will thick n when you refrigerate it. I put mine back in the oven for a few more hours not knowing that. It’s okay but a little more creamy yellow in color than I would have liked.
Rachael
December 29, 2019 at 1:13 pmI’m English and clotted cream is usually yellow in color. I’ve never seen the bright white color like in these pics, back home
Sue
December 29, 2019 at 1:30 pmThe color difference is due to the cows diet, and I think British cows produce a yellower color cream in general.
Dina
February 6, 2020 at 5:39 amrachael. Do you remove that thick yellow layer? It looks yucky stirred in.
Sue
February 6, 2020 at 7:16 amThe yellow layer is one of the best parts, I usually just pack it into a jar along with the rest of the thick cream without stirring it in.
Kate
October 19, 2019 at 4:11 pmHi
I’ve made clotted cream 3 times now. I’ve also attempted mascarpone 2x. The 1st time I used ultrapasturized and boy was it grainy! Fortunately, some heavy whipping and adding cream/mascarpone in tiramisu hid it. Trader Joe’s has just plain pasteurized cream at/less than my supermarket! So I’ve been using that. Here’s my question (2 parter): this time, I cooked it at 170F for 12 hrs but left it sit in the oven for another 4 hours (fell asleep). Despite being older cream (2 days from expiring), I had no whey to pour off for freezing! I scraped into a glass jar. Is that normal? It was barely coloured. The next day the consistancy was like mascarpone, so i used it as such in a batch of my fav dessert. Can it be considered mascarpone w/o the addition of an acid? I’ve been VERY disappointed in my mascarpone thus far. (Looking not to spend $7 or more/lb). Thanks!