Cake soaps are some of the best examples of creative Melt and Pour soap making. The finished results can be quite stunning and can easily be tailored to different occasions, seasons, or simply made to mimic the real thing in virtually any style. For the purpose of this recipe we have created a classic 'Christmas cake' soap, but there will be many other variations you can think of. It really is not that difficult to master these techniques. The main point to always remember is that to avoid colours bleeding into each other, care should be taken to use the correct combination of dyes and pigments.
Equipment you'll need.....
Kitchen scales: Small-medium saucepan: Kitchen knife: Gas or Electric hob: 20cm silicone circular 'cake' mould: Hand sprayer: Measuring spoons: Cutters for decorations.
Ingredients...
1) Clear Soap base 850g (700g melted for base, 100g as chunks for base layer, 50g for 'soap glue')
2) White Soap Base 700g (200g in base, 250g in 'marzipan' layer, 250g in 'icing' layer)
3) Cosmetic Glitter (5g each green & red)
4) Cocoa powder 3 tsp
5) Colours (Chocolate brown liquid dye 7.5ml and yellow water-dispersible (lake) pigment 2.5ml)
6) Titanium Whiter powder 5g
7) Soap Fragrance (Christmas Fruitcake) 15ml
8) Witch hazel (you may use denatured alcohol if you have a license to obtain it) in hand sprayer
Our project pack contains all these at a saving over their individual prices. Use the links on this page to 'go shopping' and they'll take you straight to the right section in our on-line catalogue. Otherwise, you'll find the 'project packs' section by browsing our catalogue main sections.
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PROCEDURE |
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Mix 3 tsp of cocoa
powder with a little water to a smooth paste. Melt 200g white soap
base and add the paste gradually to the soap base. Stir thoroughly
and pour into a suitable container to make a layer aprox 5mm thick.
Once set, cut into small chunks as shown. |
Cut 100g of clear
soap base into similar-sized small chunks and together with the
'chocolate' chunks, scatter into the base of a 20cm round cake mould
as shown. |
Gently melt 700g of
clear soap base over a low heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Once
melted... |
Add 15ml of
'Christmas Spice' fragrance oil and 7.5ml of Chocolate Brown
liquid dye to the melted soap base. Stir thoroughly and... |
Pour over the chunks
of soap in the base of the cake mould. |
Spritz with Witch
Hazel (or denatured alcohol if you have it available) to clear the
surface of any bubbles and leave to one side. Once set but still
warm, score the top surface with a sharp knife to aid adhesion
of the next layer. |
Meanwhile... gently
melt 250g of white soap base over a low heat. Once completely melted
add 1.25ml (1/4 tsp) of Water Dispersible Yellow Pigment (our ref.
KD401.70) and stir thoroughly. |
Pour the yellow soap
base (mazipan layer of the cake) into the mould, creating an even
layer. This works best by pouring from the outside edge into the
centre. Spritz with witchhazel or denatured alcohol to remove bubbles.
Leave until set but still warm. |
Then... once again,
score the surface with a shap knife to aid adhesion of the next
layer. |
Mix 2.5g (1/2 tsp)
of titanium dioxide white pigment into a paste in a little water.
Gently melt 250g of white soap base over a low heat and add the
white paste to this, stirring thoroughly to ensure there is no 'spotting'
of the white pigment. This 'extra whitening' improved the appearance
of the 'icing' layer.
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Pour the whitened
soap base in another layer into the mould as shown. Once again,
this works best if pouring from outside edge into centre. |
Once set but still
warm, carefully remove the 'cake' from the mould and it's
ready to cut and decorate. In this instance we're decorating with
a seasonal 'Holly leaf and Berries'. To cut the cake, simply use
a sharp knife. It's helpful but not compulsory to use a guide to
get all slices equal. These are available from cake shops, or you
can make a paper 'stencil'. Important. This
cake MUST be cut whilst still warm. Cut cake BEFORE decorating. |
Gently melt 50g of clear
soap base and stir-in 1 tsp of red cosmetic glitter pigment. Pour
into a suitable container to make a thin layer (the inside of a
'Tupperware' lid is ideal) of aprox 3-4mm thick. Repeat this process
with green cosmetic glitter pigment, but pour into a thinner layer
(aprox 1-2mm thick). Once set... |
Cut out your leaves
and berries. In this instance we're using a plastic pastry-cutter
for the leaves and the bottom of a small funnel for the berries,
but you could easily hand-cut the leaves and use any suitable small
round 'pipe-like' object for the berries. |
Once you have arranged
the decorations to your satisfaction, melt a small amount of clear
soap base and 'glue' each peice in place with a tiny spot of melted
clear soap. |
Remember...
If you're intending to sell your soaps, make sure you label them with
a warning as being SOAP, NOT FOOD, to avoid any problems with the 1989
food imitation act, which is meant to protect the unsuspecting public
from eating something which is not intended for consumption..
The 'Project Pack'
for this is available in our on-line catalogue.
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