That Shrimp, Asparagus, and Avocado Salad I just tried was epic, and the lemon vinaigrette might have been my favorite part. I had a few lemons left over from that, so I had to find a way to use them. Now, I would have eventually found something since I use lemons all the time when I cook, but I wanted to try something special. I took a look through Pinterest and was torn between a dessert or a drink. I settled on this Lemon Drop Cream Soda since it sounded like a tasty summery way to use up those extra lemons. Let’s find out if it is!
When life gives you lemons, skip the lemonade and go straight for Lemon Drop Cream Soda. Add whipped cream vodka to make it a cocktail or leave it out for everyone to enjoy.
The Ingredients
Looking through my kitchen as I made my shopping list, I discovered that I had most of the ingredients for this recipe. I had plenty of lemons left over from the pasta I just made. I also had regular whipping cream and heavy whipping cream left over from the chocolate mousse cake I made last week.
My pantry had a few ingredients too. There was plenty of granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and seltzer water. I had some vanilla extract, but not much. It ended up being the only ingredient on my shopping list.
The recipe lists whipped cream vodka as optional, so I skipped it. I did have some vanilla vodka on hand, though, and I used it in my second batch of Lemon Drop Cream Soda (more on that later). It was tasty and barely noticeable.
The Process
My Lemon Drop Cream Sodas started off with making lemon simple syrup. It wasn’t difficult at all, but I did change one thing. The instructions say to use a large saucepan, but I used a small 1-quart saucepan. The reason was there was so little lemon juice, and I didn’t think I would be able to stir it if it spread over the bottom of a large pan.
Otherwise, I followed the recipe and had the syrup made in just a few minutes. That includes all the zesting, juicing, and whisking. Then I set it aside in the pan, zest and all, to cool for 30 minutes.
I made the whipped cream while the lemon syrup cooled. The recipe gives the option to use a hand mixer or a stand mixer. I opted for my 3.5-quart stand mixer.
At first, I intended to make 1 batch of whipped cream, but the whisk attachment didn’t quite reach the small amount of heavy whipping cream at the bottom of the bowl. I doubled the batch, and it raised the level just enough for the whisk to reach it.
After a quick strain of the cooled syrup, I was ready to make my Lemon Drop Cream Sodas. The process was simple: just add some lemon syrup and heavy cream, and pour in the seltzer.
I made my sodas in pint glasses the first time so there would be enough room for the foam. The glasses really were too big, so I had to add more of the ingredients—about 1.5 times the amounts listed. Then I spooned on the whipped cream and realized it was over-whipped. Yes, you can over-whip whipped cream. It was very thick and difficult to spoon onto the sodas.
Lemon Drop Cream Soda, Take 2
I decided to make some Lemon Drop Cream Sodas a few days later. Making the lemon syrup was just as easy as the first time. However, I made sure I didn’t over-whip the whipped cream by using a lower speed. It really made a difference. This time it was easy to float on top of the sodas!
I also switched to smaller 10-ounce highball glasses and added some vanilla vodka. These glasses were a little too small to fit the full cup of seltzer, but it was close. The results were much better than the pint glasses.
Timing
There are 2 recipes happening here, the sodas and the whipped cream. The soda recipe lists 15 minutes to prep, 5 minutes to cook, and 20 minutes total time. The whipped cream is 5 minutes to prep, 5 minutes to whip, and 10 minutes total.
If made separately, that would be 25 minutes to prep and whip, 5 minutes to cook, and 30 minutes in total. I made the recipes together, so my time was spent like this:
- 7 minutes to prep, cook, and strain the lemon syrup
- 30 minutes to cool the lemon syrup
- 9 minutes total for the whipped cream (done while the syrup cooled)
- 3 minutes to assemble and garnish 2 sodas
- 40 minutes total
That’s a little over what I expected based on the times listed. However, I don’t think the cooling time was included in the soda recipe (that’s common). If I exclude that time I’m at 20 minutes total for the cooking and prep.
