Is Coconut Milk A True Alternative For Heavy Cream?

Baking is something of an anomaly; while it's a precise science on the one hand (especially where measurements are concerned), on the other, when it comes to ingredients, there is some wiggle room for substitutions. For example, you can sub in oil for butter in boxed cake mixes or use fresh fruit in place of dried in baked goods (with some adjustments). When it comes to ingredients that are often used in baking but aren't usually found in our refrigerators, though, heavy cream stands out. We wondered if coconut milk — which is often canned — is a true alternative, so we asked Odette D'Aniello, baking expert and CEO at Dragonfly Cakes. 

"Coconut milk can work a lot like heavy cream in recipes where you want richness and moisture," D'Aniello told Food Republic. However, she also explained it doesn't whip like heavy cream, nor does it work in recipes where you want a light and airy texture. Instead, she said it's ideal for replacing heavy cream in rice-based or thick, pudding-style desserts, and it's also a good substitute in cake batters where you want the outcome to be soft and tender and you don't mind a little taste of the tropics. But, she cautioned, while you might sometimes be able to "use the thick part from a chilled can of coconut cream for whipped toppings," it isn't consistent. In some applications, it is apparent, only heavy cream will do.

While we wouldn't go so far as to say there's an art to substituting coconut milk for heavy cream, you can positively affect the outcome of your baked goods by following Odette D'Aniello's guidelines. First up, you should always use full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream, as its inherent richness makes it a more suitable swap. "'Lite' versions or coconut drinks won't work the same and can make your recipe too thin," she counseled.

Next, it's important to remember that coconut milk is strongly flavored like its namesake fruit. D'Aniello told us that while that might work in Filipino desserts, for example, if the sweet you're making doesn't traditionally contain coconut flavor, you should "consider balancing [it] with complementary notes — vanilla, citrus zest, or warm spices like cardamom can soften or round out the coconut without covering it up completely."

She also provided a suggestion if you're looking to sub in coconut milk for a recipe that requires a thicker texture, like with a custard or ganache: you can just pop it on the stove and let the milk simmer until it reduces a bit. Alternatively, you can "mix in a small amount of cornstarch or agar-agar to help it set properly," she advised.