It's A Soap Seduction ... A Soap Cupcake Tutorial

...by Patrice Harrison of Soap Seduction

I’d like to thank Joanna for giving me this opportunity to share this special project with you.
Cupcakes are the rage everywhere-from baking to bath and body products! I love to make soap and I love cupcakes. How wonderful to be able to combine my two loves and make something sweet, whimsical, and functional. I warn you that soap making itself is a dirty job, but cupcake soap making is an even messier, but fun and rewarding endeavor! Wear old clothes or an apron when working with whipped soap because it tends to get everywhere (at least for me it does)! The original recipe calls for 1 pound of whipped soap base and about 18 oz oz. of melt and pour soap. Once you combine and whip the melt and pour and whipped soap base, it really doubles in size, so we’re going to pare this down a bit. This recipe should yield enough frosting for at least 2 cupcakes, if not more, depending on the size of them. Let’s get started!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your cupcake soap(s):




• Cupcake mold or silicone baking cups. Basically you want a “base” on which you can decorate with your soap frosting
• Electric hand mixer
• Mixing bowl that you’ll use for soap making only (plastic, glass, metal-I’ve used them all)
• Wooden spoon or whisk
• Cake decorator with various decorating tips (I bought mine at Wal-Mart for about $10.00)
• Cupcake or muffin silicone soap mold (I use a cupcake mold because I like the realistic appearance once I “frost “ it.)
• 2 TSP of fragrance (cupcake fragrances are ideal but whatever fragrance tickles your fancy)
• Non-bleeding soap dye (micas or oxides work best IMO)
• 8 oz of whipped soap base (I like Wholesale Supplies Plus or Brambleberry)
• 8 oz of white melt and pour soap base (I’m a fan of WSP natural soap base and SFIC Corp)
• Alcohol in a spritzing container
• Pipette or measuring spoons
• Glass measuring cup (at least a 2 cup capacity)
• Microwave oven
• Stearic acid - I use 1 tbsp per 8 oz.(optional)
• Vanilla stabilizer - For the stabilizer, I personally mix equal amounts with my FO, so in this case, it would be 2 tsp. (optional to use with your soap cupcake, not the actual frosting itself)
• Soap glitter or candy sprinkles (optional)


Step One:
Before we even begin to make our frosting, you’ll need to make your “cupcake”. For my cupcake soaps, I’m using an actual cupcake soap from a mold that I got years ago on Ebay. You can use a silicone cupcake or muffin mold to create your base.



(This is a pic of the how the cupcake I’m going to decorate looks.)

Step Two:
• Add your whipped soap base to your mixing bowl.


Step Three:
• Melt your M&P soap in short bursts in the microwave. There’s nothing worse than burnt soap so go easy on the micro zapping! You also don’t want the soap piping hot because it will liquefy your whipped soap base. If that happens, you should wait until it cools and begins to solidify. Otherwise, the soap won’t be “whippable”.



• If you’re using stearic acid (it’s a hardener used in M&P soaps to raise the melt point), add it to the soap base now. Stir well until all the stearic acid is completely dissolved.
• At this point you’re ready to add your FO and vanilla stabilizer if you’re using a scent that contains vanilla.
• Now that the M&P soap is melted and cooled, add it to the whipped soap .
• Now let’s make this baby come to life!

Step Four:
• If you’re coloring your frosting, you can add it to your soap mixture now.
• Slowly mix the ingredients with your mixer on the lowest speed until everything is incorporated. Gradually increase the speed until the soap mixture begins to form the texture of cake frosting.


• Don’t over-whip the soap because it can deflate. You want it to be the consistency of Cool Whip. Once you achieve this, STOP WHIPPING THE SOAP or you’ll risk it deflating!


Step Five:
• Now that your soap is whipped, colored, and scented, you’re ready to add it to your cake decorator.
• Spoon the mixture in your decorator until it’s almost full. Choose any tip that you like. For this project, I’m using the “star” tip because I’m going to do the continuous swirl effect.



• I suggest before you use the decorator, that you may want to do a couple of practice runs if you’ve never used one before. I was initially a little intimidated, but after a few tries, I was a pro!
• Now that your decorator is filled, and you’re ready to decorate your cupcake, you’ll want to spritz the top of your cupcake with alcohol. This will aid in adhesion.

Step Six:
• This is the step where you are free to express your creativity! Decorate the top of your cupcake anyway that you please. Add your sprinkles or glitter at this point.


• Once your cupcake is finished, you’ll want to set it aside to let it harden. I let mine “cure” for at least 3 days until the frosting is nice and firm. The stearic acid really comes in handy here.
When your cupcake is ready, package it in a cute cupcake box or a clear cello bag and top with a ribbon. The choices are endless. Here are a few examples of how I decorate my cupcakes.





Before you even ask if the leftover frosting is reusable, I don’t know because I’ve never had a lot of it to find out. I have used what little I did have left to make little meringue soap cookies, and decorated the tops of soaps, and they were really cute!

I encourage you to play with whipped soap if you’ve never tried it. You’d be surprised at what you can create with it!


Patrice can be found in SO many places!

www.TheSoapSeduction.artfire.com

www.thesoapseduction.etsy.com

www.thesoapseduction.1000markets.com

http://thesoapseduction.blogspot.com

Thank you, Patrice, for your generosity and for your beautiful tutorial. You are a wonderful artist! I am proud to have you be my guest!! Hugs for you.


*