I've got a couple tubs of cream that are pretty old and stiff. Lately I've just been putting what I'm going to use into a shot glass with some rather hot water and then basically setting that into a large coffee cup surrounded with HOT water from the electric kettle. This generally softens the cream up a bit but it's still not as soft as it should be resulting in globs of hard cream left in the bottom of my scuttle when I make my lather. Granted it'd be easier to just buy some newer cream but I got one of these as a "gift" and the other was simply given to me so it's not like I've lost any money.

Suggestions?
Comments?

Thanks in advance
Michael