A whipping cream dispenser does not actually whip cream. At first glance, it is a mysterious container. You simply screw on a little canister onto the container's top, a loud hiss shrieks, and suddenly you have whipped cream. So how does a whipping cream dispenser work? This magic trick is easily explained by the scientific properties of gas and pressure.
Within each little stainless steel canister, or “charger,” is highly pressurized nitrous oxide (N2O), commonly known as laughing gas. When the charger is screwed onto the dispenser's top, a sharp pin pricks the charger bottom, allowing the N2O gas to gush into the cream-filled dispenser. You can hear the transfer of N2O in this video:
Since the dispenser is now jammed with so many gas molecules that escaped from the charger, it is now pressurized itself. Due to this high pressure, the nitrous oxide is forced to dissolve into the cream. When I press the lever to dispense some of the nitrous oxide-infused cream, the pressurized gas expands in volume, and the cream foams.
You won’t get all giggly from eating this laughing gas whipped cream because the gas diffuses into the air as soon as it is dispensed.
Pro tip: It's tempting to want to check how much cream is left in your dispenser. However, once the dispenser is pressurized, you should not unscrew its lid since the N2O will escape, leaving you with runny and flat cream. Here’s why:
Here is my simple whipped cream recipe that is as simple as the science!
Combine the following either into your whipped cream dispenser or into a bowl to be manually whipped:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 ~1 tbsp agave syrup
Note: Use a liquid syrup (i.e. agave or maple syrup) rather than table sugar so your whipped cream is not gritty. Agave is good because it has a more neutral flavor than maple syrup.
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