In the prechilled bowl of a tabletop mixer fitted with a prechilled whisk attachment, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla just until the mixture holds soft peaks and the cream around the outside edge of the bowl still looks more thick than whipped. Use as recipe directs, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until read to use. Yields 2 cups whipped cream.
This recipe can be increased or decreased as desired. When whipped, cream doubles in volume. 3 cups of unwhipped cream makes 6 cups whipped cream, which is enough to generously fill, ice and trim a 9-inch, two layer cake.
Refrigerate cakes iced with whipped cream immediately after icing. Remove the cake from the refrigerator 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving, depending on how cool the weather is.
Any cake iced with whipped cream should be served the day it is made because whipped cream absorbs refrigerator odors. If the cake is not served the day it is iced, store the whipped cream in an airtight cake container in the refrigerator.