Using coconut cream in place of water?

[sharnofshade]

If I want to use coconut cream in a recipe, can I substitute it 1:1 for the water in the original recipe? I was thinking that, since coconut cream contains fat, perhaps it will work if I swap cream for water and have 0% superfat (instead of the 5% the recipe originally calls for)?

If I'm on completely the wrong track, could someone give me advice for using coconut cream instead of water in a recipe. Thanks =)

If a base recipe is needed, I'm either going to go with 100% OO, or 75% OO and 25% Shea Butter.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If you use 100% CC in a recipe, you have to mix the caustic soda in with the CC. While I did this a long time ago, I don't recommend this method as the mix goes really thick and is difficult to incorporate into the oil with the stick blender.

My preferred method now is to use a minimum of water to mix the caustic soda into, and then I add the balance of liquid as coconut cream at light trace. I don't alter my 6% lye discount. Be aware that once you add your room temperature CC at light trace, it will speed things up dramatically. Not a lot of time for swirling but this depends on recipe too. If you're adding EO or FO, add it to your oils.

You'll end up with great soap. :wink:

 

[sharnofshade]

If you use 100% CC in a recipe, you have to mix the caustic soda in with the CC. While I did this a long time ago, I don't recommend this method as the mix goes really thick and is difficult to incorporate into the oil with the stick blender.

My preferred method now is to use a minimum of water to mix the caustic soda into, and then I add the balance of liquid as coconut cream at light trace. I don't alter my 6% lye discount. Be aware that once you add your room temperature CC at light trace, it will speed things up dramatically. Not a lot of time for swirling but this depends on recipe too. If you're adding EO or FO, add it to your oils.

You'll end up with great soap. :wink:

Thanks Bubbles Galore! Adding the cream at light trace sounds like a great idea, and I'll make a note to keep the lye discount (which, just to double-check, is effectively the same as super-fatting, isn't it? Both result in more oils than the lye can completely saponify?)

As this is going to be my first batch of soap, I'm going to be going unscented and uncoloured, which looks like it's going to simplify things quite a bit! I'm mostly hoping to learn how to recognise trace, and to test out how CP soap pours and moulds. Hopefully I'll also end up with some nice soap to share with my family

And I must admit, I'm hoping the sped up tracing will actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise, since I've read that OO soap can take a long time to trace

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Thanks Bubbles Galore! Adding the cream at light trace sounds like a great idea, and I'll make a note to keep the lye discount (which, just to double-check, is effectively the same as super-fatting, isn't it? Both result in more oils than the lye can completely saponify?)

Correct. :wink:

Yes, olive oil soap can take ages to trace but it depends on the grade of OO. Extra virgin takes me the longest, pomace is fast, extra light is pretty fast too.

 

[judymoody]

Coconut cream will get very hot if you add the lye directly to it. It can also start to cook and turn a light yellow or tan color. If you're going to add lye to any kind of milk, make sure it is semi-frozen, and stir, stir, stir.

For what it's worth, if this is your first bath, I'd keep things super simple. A recipe that I like (it was my second batch) is Kathy Miller's Castile II soap at www.millersoap.com It is mostly OO but smaller amounts of PO and CO. It behaves beautifully, traces in a reasonable amount of time and looks like glossy white pudding. It makes a really nice bar of soap, hard, lathers well, non-drying. I made it for my daughter who has eczema.

Good luck and happy soaping!