Saturday, March 26, 2011

These Cupcakes Are The BOMB-Literally!

Frangipani-made with meringue powder

So I've finally mastered the art of the bath bomb cupcake. It's not perfect, but it looks like a cupcake! I now realize that my problem with the first couple of batches was that I was using plain powdered egg whites and not meringue powder. Oh yeah, there is a difference. Powdered egg whites are just that and nothing more, whereas, meringue powder contains corn starch, cream of tartar, and silicon dioxide (an anti-caking agent) in addition to the egg whites.The plain egg whites would not solidify-easily. The texture of the frosting is visibly smoother and the swirls are not as defined-but they're still wonderful, I think. I had to use a cup and a half of confectioner's (powdered) sugar in addition to a cup of corn starch just to get it to thicken up.

Caribbean Queen-made with powdered egg whites

With these cupcake bubble bombs, I used 12-14 oz of confectioner's sugar, and it thickened up nicely-after about 10-12 minutes of whipping it with my hand mixer. The pink frosted ones are scented in Frangipani, or plumeria, while the peach-colored ones are scented in what I call Caribbean Queen-a thick, fruity concoction of raspberries, ripe, juicy peaches, sweet strawberries, cherries, mandarin oranges, grapefruit and a splash of pineapple and mango-OMG! I need to make a soap with this scent!

So I have my floral and my fruity bomb. Now I need a true bakery-scented bomb, and an essential oil blended bomb. I'm having fun...

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Just A Photo...Or Two


I took this picture to get a gauge on just how colorful (or un-colorful) my soaps are. I personally have a problem with a lot of brown soap. Don't ask me why, it's just want of the many quirks I own. Anyway, I like how this one turned out. I'm amazed at my progress in soap making. While I haven't tackled the fancy swirls and intricate patterns, I love soap with texture-whether it's seeds, leaves, flowers, grains...-and I have quite a few texturous (yep, made that one up) soaps.


Now to about those intricate patterns...

Monday, March 14, 2011

Not Quite How I Envisioned It....

Top
Bottom
I wanted this soap to be a bright, obnoxious shade of pink, but I obviously did not use enough raspberry pop oxide.I scented these flowers in Perfect Peony. I have plenty of that fragrance so I just may try again, but I can't help to be disappointed at the outcome. I think I'll try again and relegate these to the Family Fug...