Raspberry Almond Soap Recipe

by Victoria
(London, UK)

My fiancé and I would like to make soap for favours at our wedding in May. We are new to soap making and have researched the cold process method. We would like to make raspberry almond soap (to match our cake flavour) and have the following ingredients:


Coconut oil
Palm oil
Apricot Kernel oil
sweet almond oil
distilled water
sodium hydroxide
almond fragrance oil
raspberry fragrance oil
Red colouring and glitter

Are we missing anything at all and what quantities would we need to use to make 30-40 bars of soap (average size)? I have looked at a recipe for cran-raspberry soap and it requires palm kernel oil, is this necessary?

Please help as the wedding is almost 2 months away now!

I would really appreciate your help.

Many thanks,

Victoria


Answer:

Hi Victoria,

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

Here is a recipe using your oil ingredients with the addition of Olive oil.

Sweet Almond - 10%
Apricot Kernel - 10%
Olive Oil - 25%
Coconut Oil - 25%
Palm Oil 30%

Plug these numbers into SoapCalc along with the following....

Section #2 - 'weight of oils' = 3600 grams (that will make approx. 40 bars that are around 120 grams each. You could make 4 batches of 900 grams if you like instead. Also keep in mind that wedding favours tend to be half bars so you could easily make a batch that is 1800 grams and cut the bars in half)

Section #3 - 'Water' = water as a percent of oils = 38

Section #4 - Superfat % = 5

In Section #6 plug in the oils you are using and the percentages.

Section #8 - Calculate the recipe.

When you mix up your scent blend...you might want to go easy on the almond since it often overpowers other scents.

Scent is added in amounts from 3% - 5% by weight compared to the amount of base oils used. example....if you make a batch that is 900 grams then you could use between 27 grams and 45 grams of scent.

I don't know what type
of colour you are using but be aware that a dye colourant will bleed into another adjacent colour. You get soft blended lines between colours rather than sharp defined lines between colours. You will want to keep this in mind for deciding on what kind of decorative feature you will use in your soaps. You may find that since you are new at soap making, colouring your soap one solid colour to be easiest.

If you do want to have a decorative feature, one of the easiest would probably be to make a plain batch (900 grams) of soap first....you could scent it with the almond but leave out the colour.

The next day, cut the soap up into chunks...small or large...1/4" - 3/4" cubes....your choice.

Next, make a batch of soap (2700 grams) using the raspberry scent and the colourant. Add the white soap chunks when your soap batter reaches a medium trace and pour into your soap molds.

This look will work best if using a non-bleeding colourant....like oxide or mica.

Another option would be to marble the soap colours. Once your soap reaches a medium trace, pour off 3/4 of the batch into the soap mold. Add the colourant to the remaining amount and blend well. Slowly pour the coloured soap in a zigzag pattern over the white soap base. Remember to pour from high up and low down to the soap in order to vary the depth of the pattern. Then marble the design by running a spatula or other instrument around the soap batter.

I've never used soap glitter so I can't give any instruction on how to use that, sorry.

As I don't know what the recipe is using the Palm Kernel oil, I can't really comment on whether it is necessary. A recipe is best (in my opinion) if it has at least one of the three cleansing oils....coconut, palm kernel or babassu oil. I also prefer to use them in amounts around 20% - 30% of the total oils.

I hope this helps you create something lovely for your wedding,

Cathy

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Creating/Adjusting a Recipe
by: Cathy

Hi Victoria,

You will need to read up on how to create and adjust recipes. Here is the link. Scroll down until you see the heading "Formulating a Recipe". You will find a detailed explanation on how I make up recipes.

The recipe you posted would be just fine as it is. It is a recipe for a bar that is very cleansing with lots of bubbles. It is lower on the condioning creamy lather than I would like for my skin.

What is great about soap making is that you can make a soap that is suitable for your skin type. I prefer bars that have a creamy conditioning lather whereas whoever made the recipe you posted prefers one with more cleansing punch and big bubbles.

Be sure to explore SoapCalc as well. It really is a wonderful tool for creating new soap recipes. Click on the 'Help' button and all the numbered buttons to get information on how to use the program.

Good luck,
Cathy

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Thank you!
by: Victoria

Hi Cathy,

This is perfect thank you very much!!

This is the recipe using the palm kernel oil:

Cran-Raspberry Soap

Ingredients:
2 oz wt Sweet Almond Oil
4 oz wt Apricot Kernel Oil
4 oz wt Coconut Oil
3 oz wt Palm Oil
3 oz wt Palm Kernel Oil
2.33 oz wt Sodium Hydroxide
6 oz Distilled water

Optional: use between .2 and .5 oz of Cran-Raspberry Fragrance Oil

***Recipe yields 1 lb of soap.

If we were to follow this recipe but leave out the palm kernel oil, what adjustments would we make?

Many thanks for your help so far!! I'm excited about making the soap now!

Victoria

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