Let's Talk Soap Frosting

[MellonFriend]

Hello all! I've been a big fan of Royalty Soaps for a while now, and I'm trying to decide if I want to try soap frosting. I have a few questions that if you could clear them up that would help my decision. Question one is do you need to use a powered mixer like a stand mixer in order to make soap frosting? If so, can I use the stand mixer that I use for cooking and baking or would I need one dedicated to soapmaking? I'm just not sure creatively if it's something that I would enjoy as an addition to me creative process. Obviously that's something I can only answer, but I would in addition love to hear any experiences you have had with trying soap frosting and what you like or don't like about it. Thanks in advance!

 

[earlene]

As long as your mixer's whisk is made of stainless steel & your bowl as well, it's fine to use for soap, and after thoroughly cleaned, it is again food safe.

Here is SoapQueen's video on making soap frosting using a mixer with a whisk. She uses a glass bowl, but I advise against using glass with lye soap for safety reasons.

 

[glendam]

I only do piping on a few soaps occasionally, but I do not use any extra equipment (other than the piping tips and piping bags and accessories). When I am making a soap I set apart what will be the frosting and add titanium dioxide to it. Then I make the main soap and depending on how long it takes me, the "piping" soap might be still too soft or it might just be thick enough to pipe with it. Usually I have to use the stick blend it to get it to thicken up. Sometimes I make another soap while waiting, but usually the stick blender will help. So you could try soap frosting without acquiring extra equipment, and after you try it, you can decide if it will be worth the purchase. I normally do not like waiting for it to thicken up, but it is quite fun once it is ready.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I've tried it a few times and I've done nothing more than wait for the batter to firm up enough to pipe. I don't have a separate process with a mixing bowl and beaters - that would make it a bit too labour intensive for me. As it is I don't like the additional mess of piping bags and tips, and the amount of extra batter that gets wasted due to clinging to the sides of piping bags etc.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

I've seen plenty of YouTube soapers use their normal soap recipe, and just let it get thick before piping--I'd love to try that sometime, bc it seems so much easier than the way I do it! I've been using this method:



It's more work (separate recipe, need to melt, mix, then chill your oils first), but it's always given me really reliable long work times. These are my soap cupcakes chilling in the fridge for a day to keep the icing whiter! They're time consuming, but SO much fun to make:

I've tried it a few times and I've done nothing more than wait for the batter to firm up enough to pipe. I don't have a separate process with a mixing bowl and beaters - that would make it a bit too labour intensive for me. As it is I don't like the additional mess of piping bags and tips, and the amount of extra batter that gets wasted due to clinging to the sides of piping bags etc.
View attachment 67122

@KiwiMoose You've got a point about all that wasted soap frosting. I've been letting the wasted stuff saponify in the bags (they're disposable, and I've got multiple tips), and since my frosting recipes are 70-80% solid oils... Maybe I could rebatch it into transparent soap???

 

[Kcryss]

If anyone is interested, here is a HP Soap Frosting recipe I came across a while back. I did try it once recently and it was a lot of fun.


For Hp Soap Frosting graciously shared by Janelle Peterson
Make your soap as you normally would using hot process.
In a smaller pan add 1 ounce of stearic acid, 7 ounces of water and 2 ounces of glycerin.
Allow it to melt and mix. I was told to add 5 ounces of mp soap base to this but I did not.
You can try if you like but I do not know how it will turn out. I made mine without as I didn’t have any on hand.
While this is melting get a larger pan and measure out 12 ounces of hp soap.
When your stearic acid pan had melted, pour into the larger pan of hp soap. Mix this together on medium heat and stir until completely combined. You want this to be fluid. If it is still real thick you can add in some liquid. You have many choices. Goats milk, coconut milk, aloe gel or juice or just add more water. I like goats milk for mine. Only add small amounts until it is fluid again.
When your soap is completely melted and fluid, stir in 12 ounces of baking soda. This is also when I added my mica. Cook and stir until soap is smooth to the touch and not gritty. You do not want to stop stirring. This will not take very long. Do the finger test. As soon as it is no longer gritty remove from the heat.
Allow to cool and add your fragrance and preservative at the correct temp for your specific preservative. You will need one due to the extras you have added. Do not let this get cool. You want it fairly warm.
After you have added your fragrance and preservative you will mix with your beaters until you get nice stiff peaks but still warm. Put into your piping bag and you are set to go.
I got 20 cupcakes out of this. You will get more or less depending on how tall you make them.
Note: after 4 hours the frosting is solid but spongy…
 
To make a rebatch soap frosting just replace the 12 ounces of hp soap with shredded cp or hp soap.   add 9 ounces of water instead of 7. 

 

[MellonFriend]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think for now I'm not going to invest in any fancy equipment as some of you recommended. If a whim catches my fancy maybe I'll give it a try sometime, but for now I'll just stick with unfrosted desings. Thanks again!

 

[Marcia Thorne]

I tried the piping once and I used the same recepi as the soap. The only thing is that I had to wait for it to harden and I was so excited that I find the waiting period long but it was fun to do I would be trying it again. Soap came out lovely. I did a confetti Soap. I had some soap scraps and decided to use it but wanted to make it extra fancy. I think it looked ok for a first try and for an ameteur. Let me know what you think

 

[MellonFriend]

I tried the piping once and I used the same recepi as the soap. The only thing is that I had to wait for it to harden and I was so excited that I find the waiting period long but it was fun to do I would be trying it again. Soap came out lovely. I did a confetti Soap. I had some soap scraps and decided to use it but wanted to make it extra fancy. I think it looked ok for a first try and for an ameteur. Let me know what you think

That looks really nice! Great work!

 

[cerelife]

For many years I wasn't much of a fan of frosted soaps. They seemed too cumbersome to actually use and I didn't want them sitting around 'just looking pretty' in my customers' bathrooms. But there does seem to be a market for them and no one in my local area makes them, so I thought it might be fun to try them out myself. I just bought the Royalty Soaps Frosting Club Kit and it's honestly a pretty good deal. The Mad Mica stuff and the Ateco tips alone justify the cost of the kit itself! You also get a PDF file of her frosting recipe and access to an instructional video of how to make/use the soap frosting. Obviously I can't share that info, but I can say that you don't need anything that you wouldn't already be using to make regular soap.
https://www.royaltysoaps.com/products/the-soap-frosting-club-box?variant=31132639723591

 

[MellonFriend]

For many years I wasn't much of a fan of frosted soaps. They seemed too cumbersome to actually use and I didn't want them sitting around 'just looking pretty' in my customers' bathrooms. But there does seem to be a market for them and no one in my local area makes them, so I thought it might be fun to try them out myself. I just bought the Royalty Soaps Frosting Club Kit and it's honestly a pretty good deal. The Mad Mica stuff and the Ateco tips alone justify the cost of the kit itself! You also get a PDF file of her frosting recipe and access to an instructional video of how to make/use the soap frosting. Obviously I can't share that info, but I can say that you don't need anything that you wouldn't already be using to make regular soap.
https://www.royaltysoaps.com/products/the-soap-frosting-club-box?variant=31132639723591

Honestly that's the kit that I was trying to justify to myself buying. I sort of want to buy the kit just because I think it looks like a fun kit, but I didn't know if I wanted to shell out $50 for something I wasn't really going to use. Just to support Katie and get that enamel pin though, I might just do it sometime.

 

[cerelife]

LOL, if it weren't for supporting a fellow soapmaker, I'd give you the enamel pin! I have zero use for it, but I have to give Katie due respect for making this kit so cost-effective. I already had one of the Ateco tips (purchased from Amazon) that I use to pipe body butter into jars, and some of the MM colors. But these are great colors that I don't mind having backups of, and if will be nice to have the couplers since sometimes I cut the piping bags a bit too large and shoot out the tips!
All in all, I couldn't buy all of the things that come in the box from MM and Amazon for less than $50 (and I checked), plus you get her frosting recipe and an instructional video to boot!
Even if I never frost the first soap, I still feel like it's a win-win situation. I get some pretty micas and glitters/some quality piping stuff; I get to learn a new technique; AND I'm supporting a fellow soapmaker who seems like a very decent person

 

[Megan]

I always just let my soap come to thick trace and pipe that. There's no way I'm making extra soap dishes for soap frosting (especially fiddly dishes like stand mixer whisks). Active time working is reduced as well.
I recommend using a fragrance and a recipe that you know how it behaves so you avoid the frosting setting up too fast or gelling in the bag...but that's about it. It's so simple and easy.

 

[MellonFriend]

LOL, if it weren't for supporting a fellow soapmaker, I'd give you the enamel pin! I have zero use for it, but I have to give Katie due respect for making this kit so cost-effective. I already had one of the Ateco tips (purchased from Amazon) that I use to pipe body butter into jars, and some of the MM colors. But these are great colors that I don't mind having backups of, and if will be nice to have the couplers since sometimes I cut the piping bags a bit too large and shoot out the tips!
All in all, I couldn't buy all of the things that come in the box from MM and Amazon for less than $50 (and I checked), plus you get her frosting recipe and an instructional video to boot!
Even if I never frost the first soap, I still feel like it's a win-win situation. I get some pretty micas and glitters/some quality piping stuff; I get to learn a new technique; AND I'm supporting a fellow soapmaker who seems like a very decent person

I think I'd feel like cheating if I didn't buy the kit to get the pin! I think I might buy it someday or maybe put it on a list of gifts people could get me. Heck, if it turned out that I didn't like using the piping stuff for soap I could always give them to my mother who enjoys cake decorating.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

If anyone is interested, here is a HP Soap Frosting recipe I came across a while back. I did try it once recently and it was a lot of fun.


For Hp Soap Frosting graciously shared by Janelle Peterson
Make your soap as you normally would using hot process.
In a smaller pan add 1 ounce of stearic acid, 7 ounces of water and 2 ounces of glycerin.
Allow it to melt and mix. I was told to add 5 ounces of mp soap base to this but I did not.
You can try if you like but I do not know how it will turn out. I made mine without as I didn’t have any on hand.
While this is melting get a larger pan and measure out 12 ounces of hp soap.
When your stearic acid pan had melted, pour into the larger pan of hp soap. Mix this together on medium heat and stir until completely combined. You want this to be fluid. If it is still real thick you can add in some liquid. You have many choices. Goats milk, coconut milk, aloe gel or juice or just add more water. I like goats milk for mine. Only add small amounts until it is fluid again.
When your soap is completely melted and fluid, stir in 12 ounces of baking soda. This is also when I added my mica. Cook and stir until soap is smooth to the touch and not gritty. You do not want to stop stirring. This will not take very long. Do the finger test. As soon as it is no longer gritty remove from the heat.
Allow to cool and add your fragrance and preservative at the correct temp for your specific preservative. You will need one due to the extras you have added. Do not let this get cool. You want it fairly warm.
After you have added your fragrance and preservative you will mix with your beaters until you get nice stiff peaks but still warm. Put into your piping bag and you are set to go.
I got 20 cupcakes out of this. You will get more or less depending on how tall you make them.
Note: after 4 hours the frosting is solid but spongy…
 
To make a rebatch soap frosting just replace the 12 ounces of hp soap with shredded cp or hp soap.   add 9 ounces of water instead of 7. 

THANK YOU! I've wanted to try this for awhile.
Why do you add 12 oz baking soda? I've heard of people using it as an exfoliant, but what does this much baking soda do in soap? Maybe it saponifies the 1 oz stearic acid?
I've always read that soap's alkaline pH makes preservatives unnecessary, and with all that baking soda(baking soda's pH is similar to finished soap), it's surprising that 2oz glycerin and some goat's milk would change that. What kind of preservative did you end up using?

 

[Kcryss]

Why do you add 12 oz baking soda? I've heard of people using it as an exfoliant, but what does this much baking soda do in soap? Maybe it saponifies the 1 oz stearic acid?
I've always read that soap's alkaline pH makes preservatives unnecessary, and with all that baking soda(baking soda's pH is similar to finished soap), it's surprising that 2oz glycerin and some goat's milk would change that. What kind of preservative did you end up using?

I had the same question. After making my one test batch I can tell you that it gave the soap an appearance closer to actual frosting. The final looks a tiny bit grainy, but not sure if that's because of the baking soda or because I used rebatch instead of fresh or maybe a bit of both. I want to try again with fresh and see if there is a difference.

It was just a test batch so didn't bother with preservative. I agree that there really isn't a need for a preservative in this recipe, but I could be wrong.

 

[thebotanicsoap]

I always just let my soap come to thick trace and pipe that. There's no way I'm making extra soap dishes for soap frosting (especially fiddly dishes like stand mixer whisks). Active time working is reduced as well.
I recommend using a fragrance and a recipe that you know how it behaves so you avoid the frosting setting up too fast or gelling in the bag...but that's about it. It's so simple and easy.

Hello Megan, Ana over here!! I'm new in soap frosting and I want to know if there is a formula to calculate the frosting? I was experimenting yesterday, but ran out of batter