It’s Been a Long Time (about 12 years!)

It’s been a long time since I’ve made soap from scratch. Like over a decade. I loved making it with my good friends. Jennifer was and is my soap making inspiration. In fact, she shared the recipe for my first solo efforts this past spring. When I asked where she found it, she said “on the internet!”. A little digging and I found that this near Castille soap recipe resides at the Spruce Crafts site as “Recipe 4”. I am not certain this is the same place Jenny found it, but I suspect it might be!

Despite the many texts (questions and updates on my part, advice and assurance on her part) supporting the soap making back in early March (3/7/2021), it was my son Orion who helped me find my soap-making self again! I received several bars of homemade soaps as Christmas presents this past year (Christmas 2020). My friend Diane sent be a half-a-dozen bars of different scented soap bars – one even felted! Who knew?! My other friend Jenny sent me several samples from her first efforts at soap making. And my middle daughter gave me a big, fat bar from a relatively local soapery Buff City. But it was my son, shortly after his humorous comment about my friends’ and family’s not-so-subtle suggestion that I stink, who asked, “why don’t you make soap anymore, Mom?”  

I had to think about it. What has been going on in the past 10-12 years that has prevented me from indulging myself in soap making and general craftiness. We can sum it up to getting married to a man with three daughters and going from one child to four, moving across the country, starting over on the promotion and tenure clock, and just trying to keep up with it all! Good news, Cliff and I are quickly approaching our 10th anniversary (December 2021). This spring marks the end of my 10th year at MTSU. And I have renewed my crafty self by reviving a few old crafts (crochet and soaping) and learning a few new ones (paper crafts and glass etching). 

The Recipe: 

• 40 oz. olive oil 
• 10 oz. coconut oil 
• 16 oz. water 
• 6.9 oz. lye
• Between 1.5 and 2.2 oz. of fragrance or essential oil, according to your preference 

Please note, this is not a post on how to make soap or soap making safety. Please review books and other media sources for such. This is a way for me to document what worked, what didn’t, how it turned out, and what I’d like to change.

The first batch included the nubby soap mold. We’ve not used those bars yet, however, I would definitely tap them a bit harder to get the air out and let them cure more than 2 days before unmolding them next time. Some of the nubs came off due to air pockets. Castille soap is generally very soft and this was no different. Scent wise, the first batch contains 1.5 oz of lemon (doTERRA), .5 oz of lemon grass (doTERRA), and 1 oz of tea tree oil (Spring Valley). It is important to note that we were using then Jenny didn’t share any scenting suggestions and scent calculators used suggested the amount for a ‘strong scent’. WELL, IT IS SUPER STRONG! Orion says it’s soap for PEOPLE WHO SMELL! Honestly, it’s not that bad. But it is strong and invigorating. I think it will make a nice kitchen bar and that was the intent. 

Scent wise the second batch was divided into two smaller batches. The first half of the batch contained 1 oz of orange essential oil (doTERRA) and .5 oz cedarwood essential oil (doTERRA). The second half of the batch contained 1.25 oz of Tranquility (GuruNanda) an essential oil blend of spearmint, cedarwood, and patchouli. Again, like the first batch we were using what we had floating around the house with respect to scents and oils. It is important to note that the Tranquility came out pretty strong and heady. However, with my post-Covid (I had C-19 in November for my birthday!) nose I can barely smell any scents of Orange or Cedarwood from the first half of this batch. 

All the soaps are super silky and have a lovely lather. Orion is all set to try another batch or three. Before we do, we wanted to let these cure (which they have!) and try to find some affordable scent sources. Using doTERRA to scent 5 lbs of soap is stupidly expensive! I just received my order from Brambleberry and we will see what sort of trouble we can get into with their scents!

Melanie's Cake

Melanie- a name that means dark or black and beautiful.  It is also the name of a longtime best friend! About 30 years ago, Melanie made Watergate Cake for me (YUM!) and later shared her Grandma Ritz's (diminutive of her real name, Ritzenthaler) recipe for said cake.  Woot!  I recently unearthed the recipe and made the cake for Christmas for Cliff's family who loves Watergate Salad*.  Well, they love Grandma Ritz's Watergate Cake too!  Shortly before Christmas, Cliff's sister, Sheila brought a triple chocolate cake from Sam's Club (of all places) to the house for dessert.  It was amazingly rich, moist, and devilishly chocolate.  I immediately fell in love with the cake and therefore have had to ban myself from darkening the doors of the local Sam's Club to protect my virtue! 
That said, when I was making Watergate Cake I couldn't help but think that the texture was similar to the triple chocolate cake Sheila brought to the house.  Could I replicate it? I began to wonder.  So in my mind, I recreated the Watergate Cake with a chocolate theme.  I couldn't wait to try it out to see if my hypothesis was tenable.  Today we had soup and sandwiches at church after services.  I knew exactly what I was going to bring.  But I couldn't call it Death by Chocolate- its' been done.  I couldn't call it Triple Chocolate Cake- I wanted mine to be better.  So I thought of the inspiration for the recipe.  I thought about what Melanie's name means... and well, this morning  I brought my first attempt at Melanie's Cake to church.  It was a hit.  I didn't have anything but crumbs to bring home!  Want to try it for yourself?  See the recipe below!  Enjoy! 

What you need:
1 box of chocolate cake mix
2 (3.5 oz) boxes of instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
8 oz of Dr. Pepper (Say no to diet soda when baking!)
3/4 cup of oil
2 cups of dark chocolate baking chips (1 cup for cake mix and 1 cup to sprinkle!)
1 container of dark chocolate frosting

What you do:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degree.  Grease and flour your favorite cake pan (I used a Bundt pan.). 
2. Combine all ingredients except the baking chips in a bowl and mix thoroughly.  Do not over beat.  Add 1 cup of baking chips and incorporate.  Pour into pan and place in the oven. The cake mix will be thick.
3. Bake for 30 - 45 minutes depending on your oven and the pan you chose.  I baked mine for 37.5 minutes.
4.  Let cool for a few minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.
5.  Frost cake with chocolate frosting.  Sprinkle with baking chips.  Slice and EAT!  

Notes:  I will make this again.  And I will likely use mini chips instead of the regular chocolate chips.  Additionally, the choice of Dr. Pepper over Pepsi was made because I wanted to drink the remaining 4 ounces and didn't want Pepsi.  I think any dark, non diet soda would work.  I will likely try this again with Pepsi and again with a Root Beer.  Try it with one and let me know what you think in the comments. *I must also note that the BEST Watergate Salad has a can of Mandarin oranges in it!  I like them better than the marshmallows, but still put those in for the kids. This was supposted to post on 1/25/2015! Imgaine my suprise to find it sitting in my drafts on May 8, 2021!