Cracked Soap

[Marie]

My very first experience with "cracked soap" after 20 yrs of soap making! I read several posts on the topic and think it may be the "over heated" problem. I would, however, welcome your feedback. I made a recipe according to my soap calculator, but with the following changes: I used 1/2 coconut milk and 1/2 water amount, superfatted about 1-2 oz Bakers Chocolate; insulated, and saw crack in the morning. Now, I'm thinking "don't insulate"! What think? I was able to slice the soap and pretty much press the cracks out and it looks great imo, so I'm very thankful for that. I'm posting a couple photos, hope you can see the cracks regardless of dark color. Soap is very chocolaty and so yummy smelling and looking, but hard to view the cracks.

 

[Hendejm]

People are going to mistake it for chocolate cake and try to eat it! Well done!

 

[Obsidian]

The combo of coconut milk and the bakers cocoa probably caused it to overheat. You did a good job of repairing the crack

 

[SaltedFig]

It looks good!

(and yes, don't insulate might be just the thing, if the soap is going to gel all the way to the edges of your mold anyway ).

If it doesn't gel all the way to the edges (or you are worried that your room might be a bit cool), it could be very lightly covered until it (just) fully gels, and then the cover can come off and the soap cooled ... but that might take a little hovering )

(Is there such a thing as helicopter soaping? )

 

[Marie]

Thanks for input, guys. I'm thinking that overheating could be the problem. Next time will try not insulating and maybe a bit of "hovering".

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

(Is there such a thing as helicopter soaping? )

Ha! Yes there is such a thing, i was one of then when i first started.

I would personally do what i did and that was to lightly insulate and see what the soap does the next few hours. I dont mind if my soaps gells or not but if they do gell i prefer for them to go all the way. So what i did was to helicopter them. If they look like they dont wanna gell i just let them be and remove the cover if they are gelling i keep the insulation and check back later if looks like it reached full gell i uncover, if its still trying to fully gell i keep the cover. Its a bit of trial and error because it depends on a lot of things like the recipe and the general temperature of the place you are soaping in. But you’ll figure it out.

 

[LindaT]

My milk soaps always crack so now I put them in the refrigerator for 24 hours, take them out, let them come to room temperature, then unmold them. I let them sit another day or two before cutting.

 

[karon L adams]

Chocolate can do that. I usually used cocoa powder rather than chocolate which, of course, includes cocoa butter and other fats. but here is where, again, I like using plastic wrap to cover the soap cause it give an artificial, flexible top layers that can help prevents cracking. it doesn't always, but it can help.

That second loaf, was it made with an uneven top or did you have voids on the surface that resulted in the long crack?

 

[karon L adams]

also, I DID find that cocoa powder meant MUCH warmer soap.

 

[Marie]

Karen L Adams, it is just the one loaf. The slices are from it. The top is textured as you see in the slices as well as the top of the loaf before cut. Anyways, the final product turned out great, is curing now, smells, looks and feels great and shiny. I'm very pleased at the end of it all, Ha! Soaping is such a mystery.

 

[karon L adams]

I LOVE cocoa powder soap. be certain to warn your customers that the later will be brown. some people don't make that leap. when you cut cocopowder soap, it always smells SO amazing!

For those who don't know it, cocoa powder fragrance can be significantly enhanced if you also add vanillin powder to the mix. and, as an extra bonus, Vanillin powder and rose make "Baby Powder" fragrance.