Heavy cream?

[Stacyspy]

So a neighbor gave me a couple quarts of heavy cream, and asked me to make some soap for her. It's pasteurized, and she says it's approx. 8% fat.
I've substituted milk in recipes, with 4% fat, at a 5% SF with great success. But should I adjust SF for heavy cream? I don't want to waste what she gave me, but I feel like I should experiment a little. I'll be trying HP first, then if that doesn't work well, I'll go CP. Also, there won't be any fragrance or color added.
Any suggestions? TIA :smile:

 

[snappyllama]

If HPing a milk soap, be prepared when it wants to separate - have a SB ready to re-incorporate the batter.

I've used heavy cream with up to a 6% SF (not taking the milk's fat content into account). I liked the result, but my skin in the winter just begs me for moisture. You might have a very different preference.

Since you have a bunch on hand, I'd say try an experiment with the SFing... maybe 4%, 6%, 8% in 1lb identical CP recipes. That way, you'll know what you like best.

 

[kchaystack]

I have seen many people use heavy cream in their soap on you tube. They just add it to the oils and blitz it to mix it up.

 

[lsg]

When doing HP, I add my heavy cream after the cook. With CP soap, I substitute the heavy cream for part of the liquid. I dissolve the lye in water and add the heavy cream at thin trace. I usually superfat at 5%; I don't worry about adjusting the superfat when adding cream.

 

[SoapyWater]

I love heavy cream in soap My suggestion is to take an ice cube tray and freeze them. Once frozen pop the amount that you would need for your water count. Place your bowl in a ice water bath and add a tiny bit of lye to the milk cubes a little at a time. It takes time.. but it is so well worth it

Good Luck! Have Fun!

 

[Stacyspy]

Thanks for all the advice.... I have some in the freezer, and am going to try adding some after cook, and we'll see how that goes for HP, and try a half cream/ half water lye solution for CP. Ought to be interesting :smile:

 

[shunt2011]

I too use cream and do the split method. 1/2 water 1/2 cream. I don't worry about the SF # either. Makes a lovely soap.

 

[SoapyWater]

I too use cream and do the split method. 1/2 water 1/2 cream. I don't worry about the SF # either. Makes a lovely soap.

Ohhh a snickerdoodle league! Thats my kind of league lol

 

[Consuela]

And I'm different... I add my milks at trace....because I find that works well for me. I don't SB when I add either, but I mix very well with a spatula...

I usually use Coconut Milk, but I don't see why you couldn't use heavy cream. That might make a really nice creamy luxurious bar though, I would think....

 

[DeeAnna]

"... heavy cream, and asked me to make some soap for her. It's pasteurized, and she says it's approx. 8% fat. ..."

Whole milk as sold in the store is around 3.5% butterfat. Heavy cream contains a legal minimum of 36% butterfat. Even "half and half" is supposed to be 10% to 18% butterfat.

My best guess is this is milk as it comes straight from the cow or it's something other than 8% butterfat. If it's really heavy cream, then ignoring the fat content and pretending it's "just water" will significantly raise the superfat and reduce water content in your recipe.

Also keep in mind that butterfat has butyric acid in it which makes a soap with a distinct cheesy-bready-beery odor. Some people don't mind it (me) but others do. If this is really truly heavy cream and the cream is a large part of the recipe, the soap might end up with some of this odor.

 

[Lindy]

I've used Heavy Cream and it worked beautifully. I did the frozen method and I loved the soap. Another one I like is Yoghurt

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Yeah, I used heavy cream as part of my liquid earlier this year and calculated out the fat amount (since it was store bought and I could get what I needed from the label). It came out to be between the oils that would otherwise have been 5% and 10% of the recipe!

Though I didn't notice any off scent from it, even though those bars were unscented.

 

[lsg]

"... heavy cream, and asked me to make some soap for her. It's pasteurized, and she says it's approx. 8% fat. ..."

Whole milk as sold in the store is around 3.5% butterfat. Heavy cream contains a legal minimum of 36% butterfat. Even "half and half" is supposed to be 10% to 18% butterfat.

My best guess is this is milk as it comes straight from the cow or it's something other than 8% butterfat. If it's really heavy cream, then ignoring the fat content and pretending it's "just water" will significantly raise the superfat and reduce water content in your recipe.

Also keep in mind that butterfat has butyric acid in it which makes a soap with a distinct cheesy-bready-beery odor. Some people don't mind it (me) but others do. If this is really truly heavy cream and the cream is a large part of the recipe, the soap might end up with some of this odor.

I use the cream from our Jersey cow and have never worried about lowering the superfat. No off odor in my cream soap, but then I only use it as part of the liquid.:razz:

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm just saying an off odor from the butyric is a possibility to consider, not that it ~will~ be a problem. I made a soap with cow's butter once -- the butterfat was about 16% of the total fats -- and there was a distinct butyric odor to the soap. I didn't find it objectionable and the odor faded a lot during cure, but that was my opinion -- another soaper might find the scent to be a huge issue. I'd hate to see someone ask for advice about using a higher than usual % of butterfat in a recipe and not get all the pros and cons about it.

 

[IrishLass]

"... heavy cream, and asked me to make some soap for her. It's pasteurized, and she says it's approx. 8% fat. ..."

Whole milk as sold in the store is around 3.5% butterfat. Heavy cream contains a legal minimum of 36% butterfat. Even "half and half" is supposed to be 10% to 18% butterfat.

My best guess is this is milk as it comes straight from the cow or it's something other than 8% butterfat.

I was thinking the same thing, as I've been elbow deep in heavy cream the past 2 days (ice cream experiments).

Also keep in mind that butterfat has butyric acid in it which makes a soap with a distinct cheesy-bready-beery odor. Some people don't mind it (me) but others do. If this is really truly heavy cream and the cream is a large part of the recipe, the soap might end up with some of this odor.

Yep- to me heavy cream makes my soap smell like soured milk. For whatever reason, I don't smell any sourness when I soap with goat milk, although it has butyric acid in it as well. Maybe it doesn't contain as much? Or maybe it's just my nose....or maybe it's both! lol


IrishLass