Yes use nitrous oxide--CO2 will make it fizzy! =) If one is interested in whipped cream on demand, presented in a decorative manner, these things are the way to go. To get the same effect the old fashioned way, you don't JUST need a bowl and mixer; you also need a bag thingy with a tip to pipe out the cream. You also need an assistant to plate out the stuff-to-be-creamed while you get the whipped cream prepared. For someone who entertains with cream frequently, it's an excellent idea.

I had this happen to me I bought a $2.50 Sunnyside farms ultra pasteurized heavy whipping cream and tried hand whipping it with a whisk and even my strong husband tried to help me whip it. We were at it for an hour and it just barely thickened. I did everything right:ice bath,gradual sugar and fast whipping. I gave up, and threw it in the fridge hoping I could salvage it. Next day, the top strangely grew thicker but bottom half was all liquid. I tried this time to use my electric hand mixer and mixed 1 tbsp of cornstarch to 1tbsp of hot water to dissolve and poured it in my whipping cream and started whipping on low then high speed and wow it worked and reached stiff peaks in about 1-3min !

Hi Sooz. I wasn't going to make my own pitiful suggestion, though I used it as an example in another thread. I bet Grainlady knows and maybe she'll stop in tomorrow. Meantime, just for something to gnaw on, what I'd do is substitute the nutella for peanut butter in a PB frosting. But you said whipped cream that doesn't squoosh out. That part is beyond me. I do cakes, but not so many frosted ones. Linked below by the ever changing link maker is a blog that has a Nutella buttercream that's supposed to be fluffy. It's the whipped cream that has me flummoxed. I don't know how to make a whipped cream frosting that doesn't squoosh. I mean you could triple the sugar, but that wouldn't be good. Alternatives: Heat the Nutella to be spreadable/pourable and layer whipped cream, Nutella, whipped cream. Or if you're really good with a pastry bag, you could do five layers. Then the Nutella kind of makes something for the cream to hang onto. (Technique (for those who want to know): Pipe a fat ring of something more solid, like dense buttercream, just around the edges, to hold in the squoosh. With a small tip, but not small enough to need compress the cream, pipe a close spiral of cream and smooth with a bent spatula. Pipe a Nutella spiral and smooth, then a cream layer, etc. Add chopped nuts and chocolate shavings between layers to make it more interesting, and give the goo something to hold onto. Or just make whipped cream frosting as usual, heat the Nutella to fold together (not hot enough to melt the cream!), and add enough confectioner's sugar to get the stiffness/flavor you want. Put nuts chopped large and sweetened cocoa nibs or small chocolate chips in the middle to give the frosting something to cling to, and put sticks in to keep everything from sliding. Good luck with it! What's the cake like, anyway?

I'm glad you're finding things you like, Lauren Confair. And as critical as layout is (the thing that pushed me over the edge into ripping out our old kitchen was that we couldn't open the pull-out trash and the dishwasher at the same time, because they were on adjoining ends of a corner), don't let anyone admonish you not to think about color or style yet, because when you're researching contractors and writing big checks and emptying out storage and living through weeks of dust and noise and inconvenience, it's not the thought of a handy prep space and sensible work triangle that will pull you through, it's the vision of soaring cabinets, shiny new countertops, and a gorgeous result. BOTH are important.