I made this soap last year (it sounds like such a long time ago when you say that even if it is only January) for a friend whose birthday was in December and she told me she liked this fragrance. I had bought 1 lb of this fragrance earlier because it is one of my favorites, but when I bought it I was using a very fluid recipe. (A recipe from a book by Nerdy Farm wife), and though there was slightly ricing, there was no acceleration. This time though, with my recipe that has about 70% of solid fats and butters, it moved faster than a train!
I used madder root and carrot puree for coloring, however, the carrot did not come through. The ground madder root gives the soap a speckled look. If you would prefer a more uniform color, you could add it to the lye water, and then strain it before adding it to the oils. I have never tried this myself, but I have read about it here and I am sure her book covers it as well. (She does all natural colorants)
The lesson I learned with this soap is thatsometimes a fragrance that performs well with a recipe, may start acting crazy with another one! The one advantage of an accelerating fragrance is that gel will happen very easily (when using natural colorants, gel phase is encouraged for vibrant colors), and also, you will be able to unmold sooner. Below is what I would do next time I use it with my recipe.
Apple Cinnamon Scented Soap with Madder Root
Soapmaker level: Intermediate
Tools Needed:
- Standard soap making tools and protective equipment
- 5 lb loaf mold (or adjust recipe below to your mold size)
Having a recipe with 70% of solid fats can be tricky, as it tends to get thick fast. Feel free to use your own or an easier recipe, and just follow the design guidelines:
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Gram(s) | Ounce(s) | Pounds(s) | Oil % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karite Butter (Shea) | 172.93 | 6.10 | 0.38 | 10% |
| Tallow, Beef | 605.26 | 21.35 | 1.33 | 35% |
| Rice Bran Oil | 432.33 | 15.25 | 0.95 | 25% |
| Ricinus Oil (Castor Oil) | 86.47 | 3.05 | 0.19 | 5% |
| Coconut Oil, 76 deg | 432.33 | 15.25 | 0.95 | 25% |
| Ingredient | Gram(s) | Ounce(s) | Pounds(s) | Batch % |
| Lye – NaOH 100% Purity (5% Superfat) | 240.27 | 8.48 | 0.53 | 9.68% |
| Water (33% Lye + 67% Water Solution) | 487.82 | 17.21 | 1.08 | 19.65% |
| Total Oils | 1,729.32 | 61 | 3.81 | 69.64% |
| Soap Weight (Pre-Cook) | 2,483.08 | 87.59 | 5.47 | 100% |
Fragrance:
- 4 oz Apple Cinnamon Fragrance, I used one I bougth from Bulk Apothecary, but feel free to use any other.
Additives/ Colorants:
- 2 tablespoons ground madder root
- 0.44 Ounce(s) of Tetrasodium EDTA (optional)
- Cosmetic grade gold glitter or mica
For Decorations:
- Apple embeds and cinnamon embeds. I made them with soap dough but you could use melt and pour.
If you do not have soap dough, you could buy some here or make from the recipe found here). Allow three days for the soap dough to be ready if making it yourself. Or you can use melt and pour embeds
MAKING THE EMBEDS:
(Optional)
With molds:
I found this tiny apples mold online that might work for you. You could either pour melt and pour soap on it, or use red soap dough. Just take a small piece of soap dough in your color of choice, squeeze it and play with it until soft, then form into an oval and press it against the mold cavity. Wait about a minute and then pop it out.
If you prefer to form the apples and cinnamon by hands:
Though I do not have a video for the apples, they are very similar to the peaches I made here, except I only used red color soap dough, and I squeezed the bottom.
For the cinnamon, I flattened and rolled brown soap dough with an acrylic roller (or any other cylinder shape object) to a rectangular flat shape, then rolled it into itself.
MAKING THE SOAP
Remember to wear your safety gear, Lye and liquids containing lye burn.
- In a well ventilated area (outside or by a window), add gradually the lye to the distilled water. Do not breathe the fumes. Once the lye is dissolved, add the Tetrasodium EDTA, if using. This additive is supposed to help with DOS, and prevent excessive sticky soap scum in hard water areas.
- While the lye water is still warm, add the 2 tablespoons of ground madder root to it.
- While you wait for the lye water to cool down to 110 or to room temperature, you can weigh and melt your oils.
- After melting your oils, pour out 4 oz of your recipe oils into a separate container. Add the 4 oz of fragrance oil to this portion. This is suppose to help with acceleration by diluting the fragrance.
- When your oils and lye solution are at around 110°F (37.77°C). add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft.
- Stir with the blender on Off position initially, then blend for 15 second periods, alternating with stirring, until it is emulsified. This takes about 50 seconds to 1 minute with this recipe.
- Have your mold ready
- Add the diluted fragrance and stir it with a whisk for at least 30 seconds.
- If during the above process you have reached light trace or medium trace, go ahead and pour it into the mold.
- Sprinkle gold mica or glitter with either a tea strainer or by gently tapping a brush that has been dipped in the glitter or mica.
- Once the top is solid enough, put the apple/cinnamon embeds on top.
- Take pictures! Ideally you want this to go through gel phase. If your fragrance accelerates, leaving it on the mold should be enough. Keep an eye on it for overheating.
- After 8-10 hours start checking for hardness. Try releasing from one side of the mold, and if nothing sticks back, it is ready to be removed from the mold and cut. It may still be warm, that is okay.
You can watch the video of the making below:
Soaps by Glenda 