# Baking vs. Soaping



## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Why does baking feel like a chore, while soaping is such a joy?  They both make a bit of a mess but give great results in the end.  I don't know what it is, but they feel very different to me.  I think it's the dusty flour...

My DH has been gone most of the last month, and he gets home at 1 am tonight. That's one hour in to his birthday and an hour before DST ends (so he gets a 25 hr birthday).  After posting this message I will bake his favorite cake, which is his mom's coffee cake recipe.  The house will smell heavenly when he walks in the door!  But it feels like a chore lays ahead!

In the morning I will give him the beer soap that I made from his homebrew.  I made it the day after my birthday, in September.  He was gone then too so he has no idea I've done this.  I hope it has a nice lather boost as I intended it to have!


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## judymoody (Nov 3, 2013)

Lucky hubby! :-D


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## My Mountain Soaps (Nov 3, 2013)

you sound like an awesome wife, i hope he has a great birthday! And though i can understand you disdain for baking, i do not share it, i LOVE to bake. although i cakes are not my best, i love bread and pies! anyway, i hope you both have a wonderful day tomorrow!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Well, that wasn't so bad.  Though I know there is flour everywhere!  And I almost dropped the brown sugar/butter/nuts mix which woulda made a mess.  But I must say, that stuff tastes waaaaay better than soap, even before it has baked!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

judymoody said:


> Lucky hubby! :-D



Yeah, maybe so judymoody, but the more I butter him up on his birthday the less he'll ask about what I was up to while he was gone (uhhhh, ordering stuff from all over the place and making it into soap?  :roll


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

My Mountain Soaps said:


> And though i can understand you disdain for baking, i do not share it, i LOVE to bake. although i cakes are not my best, i love bread and pies!



Mountain Soaps, I have NEVER made my own pie crust because I never thought I could do it.  Must be that flour again.  I didn't feel that way about soap; I just bought a book and did it.  I see a lot of people post on here that they've been reading and researching about soapmaking for more than a year and still haven't made a batch. I feel for them -- and I guess that's what pie crusts are to me!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Oops, I burned the frosting!  Maybe it isn't the flour after all.  Was melting my brown sugar, milk and butter and got a little sidetracked.  Next thing I know, "what's that smell?"  Yikes!  So much for the heavenly scent of the coffee cake!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Yes I get distracted easily.  For example, as I was pouring the cake batter into my silicone bundt mold, I was thinking, "hmmm.... I wonder how I could use this mold to make an interesting soap."


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Okay... everything is under control.  Here is the proof.


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## PinkCupcake (Nov 3, 2013)

That cake looks delicious! I'm a pastry chef, and I find that I use a lot of the same skills for baking and soaping, like accurate measurements, attention to detail, imaginative designs that appeal to the eye, etc. I'll bet your husband loves his cake!


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## grayceworks (Nov 3, 2013)

It's flour, I agree.  Because when it gets everywhere, it's a mess to clean up. If it wasn't for that, I would LOVE baking. Used to do it all the time before my energy deserted me. 

BUT -- if you get soap stuff everywhere... It practically cleans itself up as you wipe! The pans pretty much wash themselves too!

PS: here's an idea I found a picture of, for using soap with a bundt cake pan!


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## My Mountain Soaps (Nov 3, 2013)

in the pastry world they have what is called a pastry knife (atleast thats what i call it) it looks just like our hand held soap cutting blades, use it scrape up the flour off the cabinet, and also use it to help peel your sticky dough up off the counter. It makes it really easy. Your cake looks great! makes me want some!!!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

grayceworks said:


> PS: here's an idea I found a picture of, for using soap with a bundt cake pan!



Grayceworks, your url didn't come through the post but I could see when I went to quote you.  So here it is for everyone else
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k_BmPYtKFKg/UW2Aw0UNhMI/AAAAAAAAA4U/7stprq-wa5o/s1600/P1012842.JPG

Funny thing is, if I was a baker I could probably pull off that "cake".  It looks  a little intimidating with all of the piping, and might be better off if left to PinkCupcake. But I could do a simple frosting like I did on the real deal (second try).  I usually don't like my soap to smell or look like food (last thing I need is to be hungry that much more often), but it is tempting!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

PinkCupcake said:


> That cake looks delicious! I'm a pastry chef, and I find that I use a lot of the same skills for baking and soaping, like accurate measurements, attention to detail, imaginative designs that appeal to the eye, etc. I'll bet your husband loves his cake!



PinkCupcake, I agree that there are many similarities and that is why it struck me as odd that I like one but not the other.  I think I might be looking at baking from a slightly warped angle.  Maybe I should give those piecrusts a try after all!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

Futher above, where I said I had to butter up my DH, I forgot to mention that I've also been GLUED to this forum b/c I'm trying to get my posts to 100 so I can join the beer swap...  needed 80 posts at that time... this is the 78th and puts me at 98!


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## TVivian (Nov 3, 2013)

I totally get what you mean! Baking is my job, i make at least 2 specialty cakes a week and I've often wondered why soaping is so much more fun when it's essentially the same thing. What I came up with is that soap lasts while baked goods do not. Anything baked is usually devoured in minutes while soap is there to collect and admire in the shower daily. .. It doesn't go bad!  

Your cake looks amazing, and happy birthday to your hubby! 


Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making


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## lizflowers42 (Nov 3, 2013)

CaraBou said:


> Futher above, where I said I had to butter up my DH, I forgot to mention that I've also been GLUED to this forum b/c I'm trying to get my posts to 100 so I can join the beer swap...  needed 80 posts at that time... this is the 78th and puts me at 98!



You are 2 away from your quota   Good job CaraBou!


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## CaraBou (Nov 3, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> You are 2 away from your quota   Good job CaraBou!



Thanks lizflowers.  It's a brave new world I'm entering! 99


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## lewisd28 (Nov 6, 2013)

Baking is definitely a huge passion of mine. I just love making delicious cakes, cookies, and pies. It's especially rewarding to create a masterpiece from scratch with your own two hands. It brings out the artistic side of me, being able to translate unique designs and shapes to my treats. This is probably why I took up soaping as well because many of the techniques I use in baking can be easily applied to making soap as well. I'm so excited that I was able to find some lovely packaging for my masterpieces online. The site features a variety of packaging supplies such as Bio-Paks that are designed from sustainable materials. For additional info please visit: http://www.fold-pak.com/


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## paillo (Nov 6, 2013)

Baking is, I think, what got me into soapmaking. I used to love to bake for my son and his friends. Nothing fancy, but I loved making pies, cookies and gingerbread. Then he grew up and moved into his own life, and I stopped baking. My BF doesn't like anything but white bread, and I can't eat a whole batch of anything (well, except pumpkin pie . Soapmaking felt like it had similar rhythm and satisfaction. I love the meditative time it provides too, and the creative outlet.


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## CaraBou (Nov 6, 2013)

lewisd28 said:


> I'm so excited that I was able to find some lovely packaging for my masterpieces online. The site features a variety of packaging supplies such as Bio-Paks that are designed from sustainable materials. For additional info please visit: http://www.fold-pak.com/



I'm glad too.  Let's hope the days of styrofoam/polystyrene are almost over. Can't even recycle it where I live.


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## CaraBou (Nov 6, 2013)

paillo said:


> My BF doesn't like anything but white bread, and I can't eat a whole batch of anything (well, except pumpkin pie .



Yeah, I could eat a whole pumpkin pie too.  That's another reason I like soaping better -- we can play with the yummy stuff without racking up the calories!


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