Long weekend projects

Last weekend when we were in the North End, we stopped into a pastry shop for a cannoli. After I put my order in I spotted a cupcake with strawberry frosting and ended up thinking about it all week. And then I stumbled on this recipe. We were invited to a friend's bbq on Sunday, hosted by the same friend who popped into the pastry shop with me. So it was fate. These had to be made and eaten.

I wasn't thrilled with the way the frosting came out, because, well, I didn't follow the recipe. I overdid it with the strawberry puree and ran out of powdered sugar, so the texture was a bit off. The taste definitely wasn't though. Someone actually said, "These are um...kind of amazing." So, that means you should definitely make them. Specifically, the frosting. Just follow the recipe.

This weekend I also continued to organize my craft supplies (it's a really long process) and I finally made use of a bag of soap making supplies I got as a Christmas gift ages ago. Turns out that making soap this way was extremely easy and fast (like 20 minutes fast).

I had a standard issue craft store white soap block, which you melt in the microwave. I added chamomile and apricot seed as an exfoliant, and then the clear purple soap beads. I also added a few drops of lavender fragrance (I should have added more) and several drops of orange soap dye in order to arrive at this cream color.

The melted soap hardens up fairly quickly so you have to work fast. After I filled the molds, I still had a lot of melted soap left so I had to think fast. I grabbed a loaf pan and poured the rest in. I then tried to add the purple beads but the soap was already hardening so I ended up taking the it out of the mold (it was rectangle shaped) and I rolled it into a log shape so that the purple was in the middle. I actually stood the log on end and poured some liquid soap into the middle to fill in the gaps. A couple hours later, I cut the log into disks.

This made a ton of soap! I think we'll be using it for a very long time! Next time I definitely want to read up on different techniques and maybe make some oatmeal soap or citrus scented soap.

My sister-in-law made really cool snow globe soaps with her girls for Christmas and they were a big hit! If anyone else has had success with soap making and has some tips, I'd love to hear.