Whipped cream was invented about 500 years ago, by a bunch of chefs with long Italian and French names. But what made them even try this? Remember, they had no electricity — they had to whip it by hand. Fast forward to today, where these people made the world’s longest ice cream dessert: a sundae more than 1/5 mile long! It used 880 quarts of ice cream and, yes, 110 cans of whipped cream. We’re glad no one had to whip all that by hand.
Wee ones: Whipped cream is a smooth cool white. See if you can spot 5 white things in your room.
Little kids: If you squirt whipped cream on the 2nd ice cream scoop in that dessert, then the 4thscoop, then the 6th…which scoop do you think you squirt next? Bonus: 1 cup of heavy cream makes 3 cups of whipped cream. How much whipped cream can you make from 2 cups of heavy cream?
Big kids: If a can of whipped cream holds 6 cups, and when you open that can it squirts 1 1/2 cups all over you, how much is left in the can? Bonus: If it took 110 cans to cover about 1,100 feet of ice cream sundae, about how many feet did each can cover?
The sky’s the limit: If each 6-cup can covered 10 feet of sundae, and there were 3 scoops of ice cream per foot, did each scoop get at least 1/4 cup of whipped cream?
Answers:
Wee ones: Items might include a shirt, a sneaker, a bedsheet, or a stuffed animal!
Little kids: The 8th scoop. Bonus: 6 cups of whipped cream.
Big kids: 4 1/2 cups. Bonus: About 10 feet.
The sky’s the limit: Not quite. The 10 feet of sundae had 30 scoops. 30 scoops would need 30/4 cups of whipped cream, which comes to 7 1/2 cups (since 28/4 of a cup would be exactly 7). That’s more than the 6-cup can.
