How to make Clotted Cream for the Perfect Cream Tea
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Send this recipe to my email.
How to make Clotted Cream for the Perfect Cream Tea. It takes very little effort and really just time to make thick, rich, velvety cream. Perfect for slathering on fresh scones with your favourite jam.
Originally published Feb 2016.
One of the purist of pleasures there can be is thick, rich dairy cream and clotted cream just has to be the ultimate example.
Here in Newfoundland we have a very great fondness for "thick cream". It has been enjoyed by generations atop pies and tarts or served with fruit and jelly for Sunday supper dessert.
Fussels brand is an iconic pantry staple in many homes here.
Because of strict dairy import laws supplies it can be scarce to non-existent in the fall of the year. That's when people begin to hoard it for Christmas or to use in some traditional baked goods for the season, like Cherry pound cake.
Shortages have on occasion even caught the eye of the national news media. Our fondness for the product is that great.
Childhood memories.
I remember well when growing up here, whenever the first blueberries of the season were turned into jam.Homemade Clotted Cream on Proper English Scones
We would bake fresh homemade bread and enjoy thick slices slathered in a layer of Fussels cream and the freshly made wild blueberry jam. That remains to this day, one of my ultimate indulgences. There's just nothing better.
At 23% milk fat, Fussels Thick Cream is indulgent indeed. However, it pales in comparison to British clotted cream which can have twice the milk fat content.
Commonly associated with the dairy producing counties of Cornwall and Devon, clotted cream is an essential part of a traditional cream tea.
Traditionally it is served with jam on freshly baked scones.
Residents of both counties are very particular about which goes first, the jam or the cream. They can be quite adamant about which is the better way, with the Cornish preference being jam first, then cream.
Be sure to check out my recipe for Proper English Scones and conduct your own taste test to see if you have a preference.
British cuisine
Long-time readers of Rock Recipes know that I have a particular fondness for British food. I've featured many, many recipes from traditional roasted potatoes to Sticky Toffee Pudding.
I've had readers from all across North America ask if the was a substitution for clotted cream when serving scones. That's because it is not commonly available in many places, especially small towns.
When I received the latest question about clotted cream I decided to do a little online research. Surprisingly, I found that it wasn't that hard to make at home using whipping cream.
I experimented with a few of the variables in what is essentially the same method of slow heating of the cream in the oven overnight. That's followed by a thorough 2 stage cooling before skimming the rich clotted cream of the top.
This is not so much of a recipe, it's more of a relaying of the method variations I used that worked best in making this decadent cream.
I'll be reminding all of my Newfoundland friends of this method that next time there is a Fussell's crisis in the province. I've come to discover that clotted cream is even better!
Looking for more brunch inspiration?
Be sure to check out this amazing collection of our 25 Best Scone Recipes.
Like this Clotted Cream recipe?
You'll find hundreds of other sweet ideas in our Cakes & Pies Category and even more in our Desserts Category.
It's easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram.
Plus you'll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too.
You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You'll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly meals and desserts too!
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
How to make Clotted Cream for the Perfect Cream Tea
How to make Clotted Cream for the Perfect Cream Tea - it takes very little effort and really just time to make thick, rich, velvety cream perfect for slathering on fresh scones with your favourite jam.
Ingredients
- 1 quart (or litre) whipping cream (35% milk ft or higher)
- Do not use any cream labelled as "Ultra Pasteurized".
Instructions
- Set your oven to regular bake at 170 to 180 degrees F. (170 is the lowest setting on my oven so that's what I used.)
- Pour the cream into a small covered casserole dish. The dish I used was about 8x8 inches. In my experiments that was the best size for 1 litre of cream but a 2 or 2 ½ inch depth of cream in the casserole dish is a good guide. Having too large a casserole is a problem.
- Place the covered casserole dish in the oven for 10-12 hours. I usually do it overnight.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool to about room temperature before refrigerating for 8-10 hours as well. I usually let it go overnight in the fridge and skim it in the morning.
- Skim the solid cream off the top in to a small mixing bowl. There will be liquid white cream underneath the solid cream as well, so skim off as much of that as you can too. It gets stirred into the thicker cream to create the right consistency although many Brits do like to use it in that state for a mix of textures, I think.
- Store the cream in a covered container in the fridge. Clotted cream is meant to be consumed quickly, so use it up within a few days.
- Do not discard the liquid beneath the cream, use it as a milk substitute in baking. It can even be used in preparing the scones.
- Clotted Cream makes a great topping for pies and tarts too or on practically any dessert where you would add a dollop of whipped cream.
Nutrition Information
Yield
40Serving Size
40 servings (1 tbsp)Amount Per Serving Calories 81Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 27mgSodium 6mgCarbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 1gProtein 1g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
This is how I make my clotted cream. I would say that the whipping cream you buy in the grocery store does not have a high enough butterfat content. (in USA) If you can find a local dairy that sells cream it will work much better. It really is easy just be careful about the size of the dish.
Our whipping cram is 35% milk fat, so it does work just fine....if you can find a higher milk fat cream it will yield more clotted cream, as you say.
Has anyone else had theirs come out salty? I tried it last night into this morning and it came out tasting like melted butter that had salt in it. It even looked somewhat like melted butter on the top.
That is very odd. There is no salt in cream...no idea why it would taste salty.
I can't find cream that is not ultra pasteurized in the USA. Why can't I use that?
I've never tried it. It's not ultra pasteurized here.
Hi, I’ve found regular pasteurized heavy whipping cream in Whole Foods. Do you have one near you?
Cannot wait to try the real deal!
How long can you keep this cream in the refrigerator after use?
Use the same best before date as your whipping cream.
I've found a good 42% cream, and by accident made a very simular product to clotted cream. I put in the freezer, after defrosting I was left with big globs, i rinsed these with fresh water and put it a nice crock to use as a sweet butterish cream.
Hi Barry
I'm only doing a half batch as I accidentally only purchased a half litre of cream. My question is, do I still cook this for the full amount of time or do I cut the cooking time in half? Any help you can give me is appreciated.
Cheers
This would be very difficult to make in smaller batches. The size of the dish would be critically important; too big and the cream will be too shallow to separate and may dry up. I'd make a full batch for sure.
In the 1930s there was a device for making cream of various thicknesses. Found one at an antique shop. Also have a “Bel” cream maker; the bowl is old melmac so it’s old, too. Great in a pinch. Not sure if you can still find them. Check vintage sites on line.
Interesting!
I made this almost exactly to the recipe and it came out perfect. I did not cover the dish while in the oven.
4 cups of heavy cream, baked for 12 hours at 180F, no cover. I used a 8 inch round Pyrex casserole. The depth of the cream was at 2 inches, and kept a thermometer in it just in case, checked it every 3 hours to make sure temp stayed at 180F.
When it came out of the oven it looked perfect, lite golden yellow with a small amount of butter on top. I thought the recipe had failed because it seemed to only have a thin 1/4 inch thickness of almost crust and was very runny underneath, it did look just like your picture as shown above. I refrigerated for 9 hours and almost 85% of it clotted up, only had less than a cup left as a runny milkish product. The cream itself was really thick, I had to pour some the leftover back into it to make it creamy/spreadable, you did say to do this in the recipe and you are correct. The taste is fantastic. I will make this again.
The only hard part was finding the non ultra pasteurized heavy cream. Every normal grocery only had ultra pasteurized but I went to Whole Foods and they had some litely pasteurized, non homogenized heavy cream. WooHoo, I hit the jackpot there, however it was $12 for a half gallon.
I have tried this recipe before with normal store bought heavy cream and it fails, it won't clot or clots very little. It has to be litely pasteurized/non homogenized heavy cream to clot up correctly.
Overall 5 star rating, the recipe is right on.
Are you supposed to remove the yellowish skin from the top and then skim the thick cream off of the milky bottom layer?
No just mix it through the rest of the skimmed cream. It will incorporate when you stir it all together.
Hello,
I’ve made clotted cream a few times before with very similar recipes. I have always found that once I have removed the clotted layer, and then stirred it, the cream becomes very liquidy again. The picture of your cream (in the jug) is the texture I want. Have you had this problem? Thanks!
Okay, I have to admit that, of all the clotted cream recipes I found on Pinterest, I picked yours because I’m in love with Newfoundland since seeing “Come From Away”. However, I also must say that it was WONDERFUL—both the well-done recipe/instructions but the final product. The clotted cream turned out perfectly! The only difficult thing was finding cream that was not “ultra pasteurized”...after two large grocery stores, I ended up finding it at a natural grocer (and even that was tough—2 out of 3 of the creams the carried were also “ultra”). I love your website and have friended you so I can try more recipes. Thanks for making my “Downton Abbey” Tea Party a rousing success!
Fantastic to hear. We saw Come From Away in Toronto and loved it. Might see it again in New York this fall. Barry.
I am a bit confused - when you made it, you put it in the oven overnight, then in the refrigerator, then overnight in the oven a second time?
No. One overnight in oven, once overnight in fridge, then skim.
I just made another batch. I had to use a different brand of cream this time because what I used before wasn't available but this one worked great.
Delicious and beautiful. Congratulations.