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
Ingredients
- 2 pints heavy cream, not ultrapasteurized
- a heavy casserole dish
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.
I am British background mom and I have always had tea and something sweet .First time I tried clotted crem I almost ate the jar by itself it is that good.So scones wit clottedcream are a treat.
Mine after cooking at 180 overnight mine had a dark hard crust? Not at all creamy like i was expecting! I used fresh whole cream from my cows so it’s never been pasteurized could this be the cause?
It sounds like maybe your oven was higher than 180 Stephanie, although classic clotted cream does have a crust.
I wonder if you could do this Sous Vide?
I don’t know, but I think you need the open air of the oven to take care of evaporation.
My oven will only go to 200° this is low as it’ll go can I do this
I haven’t tried it at 200F Lynda, but it’s worth a try.
Boy do I love this stuff! But I get so much I can’t use it all soon enough. Can I freeze it?
I wonder if you could make it in a crock pot in small pan , covered with foil and placed in a water bath?
Hi Sue
I used 1 pint instead of two. Does that change time?
One pint is too small an amount, in my experience, Jane, you need the 2.
It works fine with Ultra Pasteurized Heavy cream. I could not find any that wasnt anywhere. Ive made many batches. I also put it in a electric pressure cooker on KEEP WARM which is by my temp gun 160-170 F. Never get a burned skin. Leave it for 12 hours all day. Just put in, push button. 12 hours later put in fridge overnight, skin off in morning. Works great.
Great info, thanks Andrea 🙂
I just tried making clotted cream and I will definitely cover it next time. I did this during the day so I could keep an eye on it and it developed a very yellow crust. When I have had it fresh in Canada and in the US it has never been yellow so I covered at the 7 hour mark. After it was all done and chilled I tried to scrape off the yellow crust but I just could not get it all. The clotted cream tastes nice and has the correct texture – but the yellow crust gave it a very nutty taste that I don’t care for. So I will make this recipe again – I will just cover it – like the video.
Try one of my other methods, Ingrid, for instance in the Instant Pot or on the stove top They don’t result in the crusted part.
Cover or don’t cover while cooking in the oven? Recipe says don’t cover, Video shows covered. Which method is best please? Thanks.
I don’t cover it, but you can if you like, either way works.