Gingerbread man soap

The place was a palace in England. The year? anywhere between 1543 and 1603. The request? “You shall make biscuits that look like my guests, so that they shall eat their own likeness at the party”. At least this is what I imagine Queen Elizabeth I told her head chef.

I can also picture the cookies (Or biscuits in England) being quite the conversation piece at the party. After all, this is the first recorded instance of gingerbread cookies shaped into human figures in history. Apparently only the important guests got one though.

Just for the record, I was not thinking of anybody in particular when I made my gingerbread men for this soap. I used soap dough to make them, and I was glad to finally use the annatto colored soap dough I had made a while back.

I made them following the steps in this video, but did it in smaller scale. I used an extruder towards the end to make the white frosting strips.

Recipe

Note: I am using a lye blend that includes Koh (Potassium hydroxide), mainly because I bought some for a project, did the project, now I have a lot leftover and want to use it up. Also because I have read that it helps increase bubbles, and my husband loves a bubbly soap. You can run the recipe through a soap calculator to get the amounts for just Naoh.

I had leftovers that almost filled this 1 lb mold, so the amounts need to be adjusted depending on how much confetti soap you add

Recipe Totals

Liquid Required	18.83 oz	533.78 g
NaOH Weight	8.57 oz	242.97 g
KOH Weight	0.7 oz	19.93 g at 90% Purity
Lye Weight	9.27 oz	262.91 g
Oil Weight	64 oz	1814.37 g
Fragrance Oil Weight	4 oz	113.4 g
Superfat		5%
Total Batch Weight	96.61 oz	2738.98 g
Lye Concentration		33%
NaOH / KOH Ratio		95% / 5%
Liquid : Lye Ratio		2.03 :1
Saturated : Unsaturated		45:55

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	19.2	544.31
Tallow Beef	30	19.2	544.31
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	16	453.59
Castor Oil	8	5.12	145.15
Shea Butter	7	4.48	127.01
Total	100	64	1814.37

Fragrance

Gingerbread Man FO

4 oz

Additives

I use my soap shavings as confetti soap, I picked the most colorful ones.

Custom Additives

Add with the Fats
Rosemary oleoresin	0.03 ounce (You would need a jeweler’s scale to measure
Add at trace
Tetrasodium EDTA	0.48 ounce needs to be mixed with water prior
Add with fragrance oil
Sodium Thiosulfate	I made a 25% solution in water and added in 0.5:1 ratio to the FO (2 oz) of this solution

For more information on these additives you can click on their name above to visit the link.

Equipment

List of regular equipment

Molds

5 lb loaf liner (I made a very rustic wood mold to go with it)

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