Sweet cream is a delicious addition to any coffee beverage. It’s a light, sweet, and fluffy cream that melts in your mouth as you sip the coffee underneath. This cult-favorite cream works well in cold brew coffees, brewed coffee, and lattes, which are ultra-creamy and delicious.

Making vanilla sweet cream at home is easy and only requires 2 ingredients, and sometimes 3! It takes less than 10 minutes to put together a creamy sweet cream latte that is just as good as the ones from Starbucks.

Here’s how to make a vanilla sweet cream latte at home!

What is Sweet Cream?

Sweet cream is literally sweetened heavy cream whipped until fluffy and pourable. It’s popular on brewed coffees or lattes. It’s not as firm as whipped cream but has the same flavor.

However, sweet cream can also mean sweetened cream in general, a popular coffee cream flavor. It’s also a popular milk for cold brew coffee or really strong coffees that need some extra creaminess and sweetness.

Depending on how the cafe words it, sweet cream can mean either or, which you can tell by the description or photo.

Sweet Cream vs. Cold Foam

Sweet cream and cold foam are two words commonly used to describe fluffy, creamy toppings on coffee. They might sound the same, but they’re actually two different things.

Sweet cream, as mentioned, is either a soft whipped cream or a sweetened heavy cream added to coffee. It’s made of heavy whipping cream, sugar, and sometimes vanilla extract or other flavoring.

On the other hand, cold foam is made by frothing regular milk until fluffy microfoam forms. Cold foam is generally much fluffier than sweet cream and resembles a small mountain of soapy suds.

You’ll find both of these toppings for coffee, but there’s another topping called sweet cream cold foam that merges both of these to give you the ultimate fluffy and creamy topping.

What is Sweet Cream Cold Foam?

If you’ve ever had Starbucks, you’ll know what this cult favorite drink topper is. Sweet cream cold foam is heavy cream, milk, and sugar whipped until lightly frothy.

Sweet cream cold foam marries sweet cream and cold foam together to give you a creamier milk foam that isn’t as heavy as just cream but not as light as milk alone. It adds a sweet, milky addition to any drink and creates a nice frothy texture.

It’s really easy to make, especially if you have a handheld frother or whisk. Combine or whip heavy cream, milk, and sugar until fluffy! You can also add different syrups, sugars, or sweeteners to create different flavors of sweet cream cold foam.

What is Vanilla Sweet Cream?

Vanilla sweet cream is just sweetened heavy cream with added vanilla flavor. It’s a very popular combination because it tastes just like vanilla ice cream. It’s sweet, creamy, and vanilla-y, perfect for brewed coffee, matcha lattes, or regular lattes.

Typically, the easiest way to make vanilla sweet cream is with vanilla syrup, which sweetens and flavors the heavy cream simultaneously. However, you can add vanilla flavor via vanilla extract or bean paste. The latter two methods will give you a stronger vanilla flavor and allow you to adjust the sugar accordingly.

The best vanilla flavor comes from vanilla bean syrup or paste due to the vanilla bean specks. If you have them on hand, use them in this vanilla cream!

How to Use Vanilla Sweet Cream

If you make a large batch of vanilla sweet cream, there are so many ways you can use it. The most obvious is adding vanilla sweet cream to your cafe drinks, including matcha lattes, cold brew coffees, milk tea, iced lattes, etc.

However, you can also add this on top of sweet bread, cakes, pies, puddings, or any other dessert that could benefit from a sweet and creamy addition. You can also add it to yogurt or smoothies as well.

If you want a less runny consistency, you can always whip vanilla sweet cream more until you get vanilla whipped cream to have with fruit, desserts, other drinks, etc. It’s a versatile cream you can use for any dessert or drink you have.

How to Make Vanilla Sweet Cream

All you need to make vanilla sweet cream is heavy whipping cream, sugar, and some type of vanilla flavoring. You can use vanilla extract, vanilla beans, vanilla bean paste, vanilla syrup, vanilla flavoring oil, etc.

Add heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla flavoring into a small cup or bowl, then whip using a handheld frother or electric whisk until it gets fluffy.

Stop whipping or frothing your cream when it thickens and has the yogurt of drinking yogurt. You want the cream to be fluffier but still pourable. If you keep whipping it, you’ll make whipped cream.

How to Make a Vanilla Sweet Cream Latte

To make a vanilla sweet cream latte at home, you’ll need:

• Heavy cream
• Vanilla extract (or other type)
• Ice
• Milk
• Espresso

Vanilla Sweet Cream Latte Recipe

1. Make vanilla sweet cream. Whip heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla using a handheld frother or electric whisk until soft and fluffy. Stop when the cream has a drinkable yogurt or smoothie consistency. It should be pourable and not stiff.
2. Brew espresso or coffee. Brew 1-2 shots of espresso or strong coffee equivalent using any other method. You can also use coffee concentrate or instant espresso powder.
3. Assemble drink. Add ice, milk, and espresso into a separate cup, then top with the vanilla sweet cream.
4. Mix and enjoy!

How to Make This Vegan

Substitute the milk for any non-dairy milk to make this drink vegan or dietary restriction-friendly. I think oat milk would work best because it’s the creamiest alternative milk!

For the vanilla sweet cream, use a vegan heavy, coconut, or cashew cream to get the same fluffy consistency. Certain creams may have a different flavor, so ensure you’re okay with it in your drink!

Tips

Here are some tips for making a delicious Vanilla sweet cream latte at home!

• If you want an ultra-creamy vanilla drink but don’t want to make a sweet cream, use vanilla coffee creamer instead. Coffee creamers are designed to make coffee drinks creamy and sweet with minimal effort. However, you won’t get the same velvety texture that sweet cream gives.
• You can make vanilla sweet cream cold foam by adding a splash of milk to your cream and then whipping it until it gets really frothy. Thanks to the milk, the mixture will never become whipped cream, so you can whip it until it gets as fluffy as you want.