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This 5-minute recipe for whipped vanilla sweet cream cold foam proves a delicious DIY sweet cream cold foam is easy to make at home with or without a frother. It’s a perfect pairing for homemade cold brew coffee. Absolute perfection! Ready? Let’s make it!
Cold Brew Coffee + Vanilla Syrup + Homemade Sweet Cream Cold Foam = the only iced coffee drink you’ll need. No trip to Starbucks required!
Ingredients for this recipe
- Cold Brew Coffee
- Vanilla Simple Syrup
- Homemade Sweet Cream (we turn this into cold foam!)
How do you make this delicious coffee?
- Fill a glass up with your favorite vanilla-flavored syrup and cold brew coffee.
- Whip up a batch of homemade vanilla sweet cream
- Turn that sweet cream into cold foam using a blender, whisk, hand mixer, or milk frother.
- Top the vanilla-flavored cold brew with the sweet whipped cold foam.
What is Cold Brew Coffee?
If you didn’t know, cold brew coffee is coffee that is brewed with, you guessed it, cold water! It’s a slightly time intensive, but very simple process that leads to a smoother, less acidic, slightly sweet brew that’s perfect over ice.
Cold brew coffee is made by combining coarsely ground coffee and water and letting it steep in the fridge overnight. It's then strained of grounds and stored in the fridge until ready to use.
You can either buy a bottle from the grocery store, or make a batch of your own. I have a great recipe for homemade cold brew coffee that's easy as can be!
What is Cold Foam?
Cold foam is the bonkers option at Starbucks that is essentially whipped cream going on top of iced coffee. Like the frothed milk of a latte, but cold.
I make my whipped cold foam from my own copycat version of vanilla sweet cream that is great with cold brew. It uses heavy cream, milk (whole, 2% or skim), and vanilla syrup to get the right texture, sweetness, and vanilla flavor.
Making Cold Foam Without a Milk Frother
To get that beautifully thick foam without a milk frother I use a small kitchen blender (like a Ninja or NutriBullet). I just pulse ½ cup of the vanilla sweet cream in the blender for about 5 - 10 seconds. It really takes no time at all!
You can also use a whisk and whip up the sweet cream by hand, if desired. This will take a little longer, but it does allow for more control on the thickness of the cold foam. A hand mixer allows the same control.
Alternatively, it can just as easily be mixed into the cold brew like regular vanilla sweet cream, no whipping required.
Other Homemade Cold Foam Recipes
- Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam Cold Brew
- Salted Caramel Cream Cold Foam
- Irish Cream Cold Foam
- Peppermint Mocha Cold Foam
Whipped Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam with Cold Brew Coffee
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup vanilla simple syrup
For the Cold Brew Coffee with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam:
- Vanilla Simple Syrup
- Cold Brew Coffee
Instructions
For the Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam:
- Whisk together the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla syrup until smooth. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
- When ready to serve, place ½ cup of the homemade vanilla sweet cream in a blender and whip for about 5 seconds, or until thick and creamy.
- Alternatively, you can whip the cold foam by hand with a whisk or with a handheld mixer, if desired. This will take a bit longer, but is totally doable!
To make the Cold Brew Coffee with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam:
- Fill a large glass halfway with ice cubes. Add ½ - 2 tablespoons of vanilla-flavored syrup, then fill the glass ¾ of the way with your favorite cold brew coffee. Stir to combine. Top with the homemade cold foam and sprinkle with sea salt, if desired, before serving.
Notes
- Vanilla Sweet Cream can be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Cydney Kamm says
I have made this exact recipe a few times and it never really creates a top layer like cold foam should. So I just came up with an idea of using a mixer and whipping it up until it dot or doubles in size and is thick enough to lay on to but has some flow so it disperses all over the top and not in one big clump like whipped cream.
Amanda says
Using a mixer is a great idea Cydney! Especially if you don't have a Nutri-bullet or Ninja Blender type device. Even if using one of those, I know some are more powerful than others and that could lead to some heavily whipped cream instead of that soft, fluffy top of cold foam. I hope you keep enjoying the cold brew recipe!
Hailey says
Thanks for the recipe! How long can you store the cold foam in your fridge? Will it keep the same consistency if you don't use it immediately?
Amanda says
Hi Hailey! I have stored the sweet cream in the fridge for a week, without whipping it. Then, when I make a cup of coffee, I whip a small portion of the sweet cream (about 1/4 cup), and leave the rest in the fridge. Hope that helped and so happy you love the recipe!
Danielle says
How much coffee in cups would the 6oz be equal to? For those of us who don’t have a kitchen scale....
Amanda says
2 cups! Or about half a bag of 12 ounce coffee beans if you just want to eyeball it. Hope this helps Danielle! (Also, I have an Escali scale that was super affordable that I've had for years, if you ever decide to get a kitchen scale and are looking for one!)
Danielle says
Thank you! I’m excited to try this!
Marsa says
8 ounces is 1 cup
Amanda says
Actually Marsa, that's a liquid measurement conversion of ounces to cups. When it comes to weighing something like coffee beans (or any dry good) in ounces and then converting it to cups, it's best to accurately weigh the item first and then convert. For instance, 6 ounces of coffee beans is actually nearly 2 dry cups worth (or half of a 12 ounces bag of beans, if you want to eyeball it). Another way to think about this is how a pound of feathers and a pound of bricks might weigh the same, but they take up different amounts of space. The same is true for ingredients! That's why many professional bakers and bakeries use kitchen scales instead of measuring cups as it is much more accurate. Hope this could help you! 🙂
Jennifer says
I tried the cold foam recipe exactly how you made it and I loved it! I want to make it again but I ran out of heavy cream. What can I substitute it with?
Amanda says
You can certainly try half and half or whole milk, but it won't whip up as thick and luxurious as it would with heavy cream. It'll still be delish though! I'm so happy you loved the recipe 🙂
Dre says
The cold foam recipe absolutely didn’t work. I have a milk frother as part of my coffee machine and that did nothing to help whip up a foam. I then threw the mixture in a blender first on low, then medium, then high only to get the same consistency of mixed cream, but now with bubbles. Now I’m sitting here with a bowl full of this condensed milk heavy creamer that won’t foam up. Saw another recipe and it suggests using actual milk instead of condensed milk.
Amanda says
Hi Dre, I'm sorry to hear that the cold foam didn't work. I will offer a few possible reasons as to why: 1) if your milk frother uses heat, then the foam will absolutely not whip. Heavy cream needs to be cold when it is whipped, otherwise it doesn't hold air and get that gorgeous cold foam texture (or even just for a regular whipped cream recipe). 2) if you went from using a milk frother that made the cream hot and then put it in a blender, it still wouldn't work because again, warm heavy cream doesn't whip. 3) I have never tested the recipe with a milk frother (one that works hot or cold) and can only offer the directions for using a blender from the get-go with a cold sweet cream.
For the leftovers, if you cannot get it to whip when it is cold and by only using a blender (again, this is how the recipe was formulated to work and this is how it should work, not using a milk frother), I would suggest using it as regular sweet cream coffee creamer - it's still very delicious that way! And, if you're going to forgo using the sweetened condensed milk and use whole milk in its place you'll have to add a simple syrup to the mixture. The sweetness in this recipe comes from the sweetened condensed milk. To remove that from the recipe and replace it with plain, whole milk, will result in an unsweet mixture. Hope this could offer some insight!
Meredith says
Love this, so easy to keep me more interested in making my coffee at home when I'm feeling in a rut of the same coffee every day.
Amanda says
So happy to hear you enjoy making this coffee at home, Meredith! <3
Mojoblogs says
I personally love coffee. I can't go a day without having coffee. This is so perfect! Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙂
Amanda says
Always happy to help out a fellow coffee lover! Glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
LIZ GARRATT says
didn't work not foamy at all
Amanda says
Hi Liz, I am so sorry to hear that. I'd be happy to troubleshoot the recipe for you if you'd walk me through exactly what you did. Perhaps we can find insight into why it may not have turned out as you wanted. Thanks!
Kerri says
I just made the cold foam exactly as the recipe states & it turned out perfectly! It’s delicious on top of my afternoon iced coffee! I used a ninja bullet blender if that helps anyone else. I plan on experimenting with adding caramel syrup or peppermint extract for a wintery cold foam.
Amanda says
Hi Kerri! So glad you loved it! If you're looking for other cold foam cold brew recipes to try - I have some fun ones! Including a caramel one: https://midwestniceblog.com/salted-caramel-cold-foam-cold-brew-coffee/ and a peppermint mocha: https://midwestniceblog.com/peppermint-mocha-cold-foam/ that I bet you'd love! Thanks for rating the recipe 🙂
Emma says
This was a fun recipe, I can’t wait to try the others!
Mandy says
So easy to understand and such beautiful pictures!