Just a Dollop

• When used as a garnish, whipped cream provides a creamy contrast for crunchy pecan pie or a sweet, cooling element to balance a bitter cup of espresso. On top of pumpkin or apple pie, the cream serves both purposes, bringing smooth, velvety texture to slightly grainy pumpkin or chunky apples and also balancing the spicy cinnamon, cloves and ginger flavors of the pies.

Part and Parcel of the Dessert

• Banana splits, strawberry sundaes, Australian pavlovas and American ambrosia salads wouldn't exist without whipped cream. In these treats, whipped cream is an integral part of the dish itself. In ambrosia, whose name means "food of the gods," whipped cream provides the medium for a medley of oranges, bananas, coconut and pineapple. Pavlovas consist of meringue shells filled with whipped cream and fruit, typically passion fruit and kiwi in Australia, which claims the dessert as its own.

Whipped Cream Delivery Systems

• Some foods are perfectly designed to give you as much pleasure as possible from whipped cream, including strawberry shortcake, mousse in any flavor and cream puffs. With a milk fat content between 36 and 40 percent, whipped cream provides the creaminess with just the right balance of sugar to dairy that makes it impossible to resist. Mousse is especially effective in doing this, because it is made with whipped cream and typically also garnished with whipped cream.

Adding More Flavor

• While adding additional flavor to a dessert isn't the normal role for whipped cream, it often plays that part. To flavor whipped cream, substitute a flavored liquid, spice or flavorful ingredient for the vanilla. Liquors, such as brandy or bourbon work well on gingerbread or apple cake, and espresso goes well in whipped cream topping for a chocolate dessert. Some unusual flavor additions include cardamom for whipped cream that tops coffee ice cream or raspberry and mascarpone-flavored whipped cream for berry pies.