How to garnish coffee with cream

I have some liquid cream - it's a dairy product with a high fat percentage but thin enough to flow, you can make it into whipped cream by beating it (explaining due to different cultures and languages). It can be added to coffee but is mostly used in cooking pastry.

I used to have the habit of decorating my coffee by beating said cream and pouring or scooping it on top.

However I just discovered that something is wrong and maybe I can't get the whipping right but it ends either too thick and using a spoon I can only get it into lumps on the coffee and it looks ugly or if I beat it too thin it sits sort of mushy, while I would like to achieve a more eye-pleasing effect, maybe make a little top of swirl as I could easily do with whipped cream from a can.

I am looking for advice how I can achieve my goal without using whipped cream from a can (it has a whole different taste) or using a plastic bag to pipe it on.