soap making!
Yummilicious loaves of freshly baked, body beautiful goodness that smell and feel incredible in the bath!
Granted ... I've only made 4 loaves of hand-crafted goodness in the last month ... but each is better than the last. And I'm beginning to modify standard recipes as though I were creating baked goods.
Visually appealing ... scentsationally enticing ... a plethora of aromas and textures that are a delight to the senses.
Last night, upon seeing the abundance of raw organic pumpkin in the pantry, I felt the urge to create another loaf ... Spiced Pumpkin Pie ... with chocolate. I had once created bread with these ingredients ... I figured the combination would be amazing in soap.
I located a basic recipe for pumpkin soap online and revised the recipe, using the baking knowledge I possess ... then running the whole recipe thru a lye calculator to determine the amount of lye & water needed to make my vision a reality.
After posting a picture of the beautifulness that is this loaf, I received requests for the recipe. The two best parts about this soap (aside from the aroma): it's gluten free and you can have your dessert before breakfast!
So, for all my soap crafting artisan friends, I gift you the recipe ... bon apetite':
Organic Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Soap - 4 pound recipe
16.3 oz. cocoa butter
17.3 oz. Olive Oil
17.8 oz. Coconut Oil
4.0 oz. shea butter
4.5 oz. Palm Oil
4.1 oz. Apricot Kernal Oil
4 tsp. of sugar in the water before the lye
2 tsp of salt in the water before the lye
4 oz. of canned pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon *
1 tsp. nutmeg *
1/2 tsp. allspice *
1/2 tsp. cloves *
1/2 tsp. ginger *
(* these are eyeballed estimates based upon the equivalent of 4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice)
2 Tbsp. finely ground, raw chocolate
1 oz of Vanilla fragrance oil
(you can also use 2.8 oz pumpkin pie fragrance oil, but I chose to keep the pumpkin raw)
9.1 oz. Lye
24.3 oz. of water
17.3 oz. Olive Oil
17.8 oz. Coconut Oil
4.0 oz. shea butter
4.5 oz. Palm Oil
4.1 oz. Apricot Kernal Oil
4 tsp. of sugar in the water before the lye
2 tsp of salt in the water before the lye
4 oz. of canned pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon *
1 tsp. nutmeg *
1/2 tsp. allspice *
1/2 tsp. cloves *
1/2 tsp. ginger *
(* these are eyeballed estimates based upon the equivalent of 4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice)
2 Tbsp. finely ground, raw chocolate
1 oz of Vanilla fragrance oil
(you can also use 2.8 oz pumpkin pie fragrance oil, but I chose to keep the pumpkin raw)
9.1 oz. Lye
24.3 oz. of water
Get all of your ingredients and equipment ready (including pre-measuring out all of your additives).
Prepare your lye solution, and set it aside to cool (be sure to add the sugar and salt to the water before you add the lye).
Once your lye solution and oils are at about 100 degrees, slowly add the lye-water to the oils and blend. Only blend until the lye and oils are just barely mixed together...you don't want to take it to trace just yet.
Using a ladle, separate out some of the soap into a large bowl, stainless steel pot, or pyrex pitcher. I separated out about 1/4 of the whole batch (1 pound) into the pitcher.
Leave the separated part for a minute. Going back to the main pot, add in the pumpkin. Make sure it is mixed in well. Also add your Pumpkin Pie or vanilla fragrance oil to the batch at this time.
Take the pumpkin pie spices & chocolate and add it to the separated portion. Mix it well, making sure there are no clumps of spice.
Blend both portions of soap in each of the containers so that they are mixed very well. You should already be well at trace by now.
Starting with the pumpkin portion, pour about 1/2 inch of soap into the bottom of the mold. Then pour about 1/2 of the spice portion into the mold. Pour in a bit more of the pumpkin, and then some more of the spice. Alternate the two until you've filled the mold.
Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, gently swirl through the soap rotating the spoon/spatula around, up and down through the soap, and back and forth. You don't want to mix the colors all together, just swirl the dark and light colors with each other.
Cover the mold with a bit of wax paper and let it set in a safe place.
Cover the mold with a bit of wax paper and let it set in a safe place.
It is probably not necessary (with this recipe at least) to insulate the mold like you normally would ... though I did. Most pumpkin fragrance oils contain at least a little cinnamon and/or clove essential oil in them, which will really get the saponification process going. This batch of soap will get HOT. Don't worry, this is normal. Also, don't worry about how dark the soap is getting. This is just part of the gel process. The soap will lighten back up as it cools.
Let the soap cool and cure overnight before slicing it.
Though you're going to want to try it right away, let it set at least a few days before you test it...and at least a few weeks before you use it in the bath.
As it's curing, your house will be filled with the wonderful sweet spicy scents!
<3
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