Sugar Free Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Recipe

In this article I talk all about vanilla sweet cream cold foam and give you a handy and tasty sugar-free version that you can make at home and add to your coffee or tea.

Keep reading for an excellent and healthy recipe to make at home.

What Is Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam?

Popular at Starbucks and often gets coffee lovers and coffee enthusiasts wondering exactly what is vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

It is, in the best way of describing it, it is a well blended vanilla flavored full-fat milk and heavy cream topping that sits on top of your coffee drink.

It is that beautiful cream topping that you often see on iced coffee drinks and cold brew coffee.

Read: Starbucks sweet vanilla cold brew

How Is Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Different From Vanilla Sweet Cream?

Vanilla sweet cream is made with a lower fat milk, typically 2% milk, heavy cream and vanilla syrup. This is the first of three key differences, the reduced fat content in the milk used.

The second is the ingredients are mixed together with a spoon and does require the use of a blender. It is preferred that you don’t use a blender to mix the ingredients.

The third main difference of vanilla sweet cream is that it is notably thinner and more liquid.

The end result is the main standout difference between the two is that vanilla sweet cream cascades and drizzles down into your coffee, be it an iced coffee drink, or a cold brew coffee or a hot drink.

A vanilla sweet cream cold foam is thicker, denser and the three ingredients of full fat milk, heavy cream and vanilla syrup are blended together using a handheld milk frother, or a blender.

It sits floating on top of your coffee, be it a cold coffee, iced coffee, cold brew or a hot drink.

What Does Vanilla Sweet Cream Taste Like?

It tastes like it looks! Like a little cloud of creamy fluffy vanilla. It has a light and airy taste. Despite the name, it is not too sweet and when added to a cold brew, or any coffee for that matter, it mellows out the coffee flavor.

Sugar Free Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Recipe

It is delightfully easy to make this rather eye-catching and tasty topping as mentioned before; the ingredients need no introduction.

Equipment And Ingredients Needed

• Heavy cream
• Full fat milk.
• Vanilla Syrup.
• Handheld milk frother or blender.

Instructions For Making Your Sweet Vanilla Cream

It is best to start this recipe by making your own homemade vanilla syrup that is of course sugar-free. Measure one 6 oz cup of filtered water and the granulated sweetener of your choice.

Personally, I love using Stevia. You can experiment with Agave, coconut sugar. Sure, I said sugar-free, but I have included coconut sugars as it is a tasty and healthy sugar.

Add one 6 oz cup of Stevia or the sweetener of your choice to your 6 oz of water.

Stir well at a low to medium heat and slowly bring your water to a boil and keep stirring and let it simmer. You aim to create a thick syrup.

Chop two fresh vanilla pods and add them to your simmering water. Using fresh vanilla pods is much better than a vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

Stir your simmering liquid/syrup and vanilla pod mixture well and keep stirring. Let it simmer for 25 to 30 mins with your saucepan covered.

When your syrup has extracted a good level of vanilla flavor, turn off your stovetop and let your syrup cool down for 30 to 40 minutes.

The step is to filter out the vanilla pods first using a sieve and then a cheesecloth.

The second filtration using a cheese cloth is to remove any vanilla pod residue that may be left.

Instructions For Making The Sugar-Free Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam

How much you make will depend on the size of the drink that you are having and the width of the coffee glass brim.

Ideally you want 2 fingers of foam. I’ll leave it to you to judge how much to make. It is okay to make too much, and it is quick and easy to make.

Simply use the two main ingredients of full fat milk and heavy cream in equal proportions and mix them well with a spoon. Slowly add your sugar-free vanilla syrup and mix well.

I like to add a teaspoon at a time and mix well, taste testing after each teaspoon. Keep adding and keep mixing well until you get that sweet vanilla creamy taste that you love.

Then use your handheld milk frother and mix well until your vanilla sweet cream cold foam at least doubles in volume.

If you don’t have a handheld milk frother you can use a handheld blender or a regular blender and mix at high speed for about a minute. You’re looking for a nice thick consistency and for it to be nice and smooth, doubling in size.

You also have the option of using your French press. Fill it to no more than 1/3 full and then press down on your plunger with a fast, even pumping action for approximately a minute or two.

Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Nutrition Facts

Having your health at the head of your thoughts and conscious of the important things like the caffeine content and how much fat, sugar and calories are in the food and beverages that you consume is a good thing to keep in shape and in good health.

Naturally speaking, the amount of fat, sugar, calories, and caffeine varies on the size of each drink.

Unfortunately, and rather understandably it is not possible to determine the nutritional facts for vanilla sweet cream cold foam on its own as Starbucks do not tell what the details are as they do not sell vanilla sweet cream cold foam as an individual drink. It is a topping used mainly in iced coffee or cold brew coffee.

The table below indicates the nutritional details for one of the coffee giants most popular drinks that has this topping, tasty cold brew coffee.

Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold foam Calories, Sugar And Caffeine Content Analysis

From the table above, the Tall 12 Oz (360 ml) serving is, in my opinion, the healthiest option and is light with only 90 calories, 6 grams of fat and 12 grams of sugar.

The caffeine content is ample enough to give you a fine stimulation with 140 mg, which is almost the same as a double shot of espresso to give you an indication of how much that is.

The only concern that I have, health wise and diet wise, is the Trenta 31 Oz (930 ml) which has 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, 26 grams of sugar and a whopping 325 mg of caffeine.

In a single drink that is a lot of sugar and fat. It is also 10% of your daily calorie intake for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Caffeine – far too much for a single drink! 400 mg is the recommended daily amount set by the FDA, this drink has 325 mg which is the equivalent of more than 4 shots of espresso.

To reduce the sugar and calorie count you can consider opting for a Sugar Free Vanilla syrup and when making it at home you can be on the lookout for a heavy cream that is light and has reduced calories and sugar content.

The simple option of using a sugar-free flavored syrup reduces the sugar content by 5 grams and reduces the calorie content by 10 for each pump.

The number of pumps in each drink size is as follows:

• Tall one pump.
• Grande two pumps.
• Venti three pumps.
• Trenta four pumps.

See the table below for the nutritional detail for a sugar free Vanilla sweet cream cold foam cold brew coffee.

Frequently Asked Questions About Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam

What Is The Difference Between Cold Foam And Vanilla Sweet Cream At Starbucks?

Vanilla sweet cream is heavy cream and 2% milk with vanilla simple syrup added to flavor it. It is mixed together well by stirring the three ingredients.

Cold foam is made using full-fat dairy milk, heavy cream and vanilla syrup. The ingredients are mixed together and whipped to create a thicker and greater consistency than sweet cream.

Unlike sweet cream which cascades into your coffee, cold foam sits and floats on top of it. It goes very well with cold brew and iced coffee beverages.

What Is Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam Made Of?

Sweet cream cold foam is made of vanilla syrup, full fat milk and heavy cream. It is the extra fat content that makes sweet cream cold foam heavier and thicker than sweet cream.

Also,

the use of a blender or hand blender to aerate and mix the ingredients together has the effect of making the sweet cold foam thicker and more consistent.

Can You Put Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam On A Hot Drink?

You can most certainly put sweet cream cold foam on both hot and cold drinks. It is a topping that goes much better on iced drinks and cold brew coffee than hot drinks like a latte. The original cappuccino from Vienna was made with whipped heavy cream; it will go very well on a cappuccino.

I particularly don’t advise adding vanilla sweet cream cold foam on nitro cold brew as nitro cold brew is a creamy drink naturally, adding a creamy topping makes it overtly creamy.

What Is The Point Of Cold Foam?

The point of cold foam is not just to make your beverage look appeasing and fancy. The purpose of it is to add texture and, when flavored, a great new flavor to your cup of coffee.

The cold foam is not supposed to be stirred or mixed into your beverage as it serves a dual purpose of providing a two-tone flavor experience as you sip your drink and get part of the cold foam and part of the coffee creating a great mouth feel.

Is Cold Foam The Same As Whipped Cream?

No, cold foam and whipped cream are two different products. Cold foam is thick but is pourable and can be added to your drink easily and manually without the need for special equipment to squirt or spray it into your drink.

Whipped cream is much thicker and maintains its shape but needs to be sprayed on to your drink.

Is There Sugar In Starbucks Cold Foam?

Yes, there is sugar in Starbucks cold form. To be clear, there is no added sugar as the sugar content comes from the sugar that is already in the heavy cream and full fat milk.

When a flavored syrup like vanilla syrup is added, the sugar content increases. If you want to keep the sugar content to a minimum, you can opt for a sugar-free vanilla syrup to be used.

Can Starbucks Make A Sugar-Free Vanilla Cold Foam?

Yes, Starbucks can make a sugar-free vanilla cold foam as they have a vanilla syrup that is sugar-free. Simply as your syrup to make you a sugar-free version.

However, it is not 100% sugar-free due to the natural sugars, lactose, from the dairy used to make it.

What Is In Starbucks Sugar-Free Vanilla?

The ingredients listed on the bottle of Starbucks sugar-free vanilla syrup are as follows:

• Citric acid.
• Maltodextrin.
• Natural flavor.
• Potassium sorbate.
• Sucralose.
• Water.
• Xanthan Gum.

Final Thoughts – Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam

Knowing how to make a Sugar-Free vanilla sweet cream cold foam is good, healthy, helps to reduce your sugar intake, and it goes fantastically well on your iced coffee drinks, and cold brew coffee.

Did you make a sugar-free vanilla sweet cream?

What drink did you add it to? Did you use a hand blender, or French press?

Share your experience with our online coffee community on Facebook/Meta and share your coffee creations and images with us all. I’m sure you have amazing customizations and your own culinary and coffee mastery to tell us about.

Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location