Welcome to the next recipe in my very Canadian quest to maple syrup ALL the things! This lovely, creamy bar of maple syrup soap incorporates a wee bit of dark maple syrup for added lather and the fun of knowing you’re sudsing up with the best pancake topping/natural sweetener/Canadian energy drink around. Come, step into my syrupy soaping lair…
Adding extra sugar to soap not only increases lather—it also increases the risk of your soap overheating, cracking, curdling, and scorching. Yay! This is because adding sugar causes soap to heat up a lot more than it usually does during saponification. To be honest, this is my first forray back into sugary soaping since my second and third batches of soap ever. You see, my first ever batch went so well that I thought I was basically a soaping guru, so I dove into a beeswax and honey bar that promptly curdled on me in the pot before saponifying into some seriously crumbly, ugly soaps. Sad. I tried that recipe twice, resulting in lots of crumbly brown soap, before backing off the sugar train as a far more humble newbie soaper.
I soaped this at room temperature, so I mashed up the solid fats to help them melt more easily.
It’s now been about five years since those fateful initial botched batches, so I thought I’d give sugary soaps another go. I’ve learned a lot about making soap in the last half decade (!)—especially when it comes to room temperature soaping, which seemed like a great place to start when we’re worried about soap overheating. In addition to combining my ingredients at room temperature I also used a cavity mould (rather than a loaf mould) to reduce the heat capacity of the soap as it saponified (think of lots of little ice cubes vs. a giant block of ice; the cubes freeze faster) and I put that cavity mould in the freezer for the first three hours after pouring.
The lye water wasn’t hot enough to melt all the solid fats in the batter, so I had to use my [sv slug="immersion-blender"] to finish the job :/ Not ideal.
Since the fats didn’t entirely melt I was really wary of getting a false trace, which I (thankfully) managed to avoid.
Because I am a maple syrup snob I was sure to use good, dark maple syrup. You want B or C grade, not A grade. B and C grade maple syrup have loads of deep, rich maple flavour while A grade is sadly lacking in that department. You can use A grade if that’s all you’ve got (honestly, there’s so little syrup in this soap that you’ll never notice a difference), but I would recommend keeping your eye out for the dark stuff for your day to day maple syrup eating needs. (Please don’t use fake maple syrup aka pancake syrup, I have no idea how that’d work out here.)
You’re probably thinking the amount of syrup here looks woefully small, and you’d be right. The more syrup, the more problems we’ll encounter with overheating, so I followed the general rule of thumb for honey (a very popular soaping sugar), which is approximately one teaspoon of honey per pound of oils. You’ll also notice I didn’t include any essential oils or fragrance; that’s because I wanted to reduce the variables (and potential ingredient waste) for this somewhat timid tip-toe into the world of soaping with sugar.
In the end, these bars of maple syrup soap turned out beautifully! I’m beyond thrilled that I’ve finally had a sugary success; watch for some honey soap soon, I’m sure I won’t be able to stop myself!
Maple Syrup Soap
30% beef tallow or lard
25% refined coconut oil
15% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
15% safflower oil
10% rice bran oil
5% castor oilPer 500g (1.1lbs) oils:
- 2 tablespoons white white kaolin clay
- ¼–½ teaspoon brown iron oxide (optional)
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
Calculate to 5% superfat
Begin by calculating out your recipe for the amount of soap you want to make to get the finite amounts of the fats, water, and sodium hydroxide (unsure about how to use SoapCalc? I made a video to walk you through it!).
Because we’re concerned about this soap overheating, I would really recommend soaping at room temperature. There are two kinds of room temperature soaping: in the first you make your lye water, melt your oils, and let everything come to room temperature before combining the two parts and carrying on. In the second you mix up your lye water and add it to your un-melted fats while the lye water is still hot, using the heat of the lye water to melt the oils.
I used heat-free room temperature soaping for this soap. I’ve discussed it pretty thoroughly in this post. However, instead of creaming the oils, I just mashed them up a bit with a potato masher to break them up before adding the hot lye water to melt everything (in theory). I found I wasn’t crazy about this method with this recipe as the lye water didn’t melt all the solid fats; I had to pull out my immersion blender to get all the remaining solid bits to blend into the batter, which left me quite worried I’d end up with a false trace. So, I’d recommend the melt everything first, let it come to room temperature, and then combine variety of room temperature soaping for this recipe. I’ve covered that in this post.
Once you’ve achieved trace, blend in the clay and iron oxide (if using). Now it’s time to drizzle in your maple syrup! Resist the temptation to add more unless you really know what you’re doing. Add the syrup and blend it in with your immersion blender.
Pour the soap into a cavity mould (be sure to put on the mould on a cookie sheet if it’s silicone so you can move it!), smooth out the tops of the bars with the back of a spoon, and place them in the freezer for three hours. If you’ve only got a loaf mould, put it in the freezer for at least four hours to help counter the fact that it’ll have a much higher heat capacity than the batter in the cavity mould.
Because the colder temperatures will slow saponification, I left my soap in the mould for about forty-four hours rather than twenty-four. When I removed the bars from the cavity mould they were firm, with characteristically tacky bottoms. Leave the soap to age for at least three weeks before using and enjoy!
I used a blend of safflower and rice bran oils instead of my more standard 25% olive oil (pomace) as they were nearing the end of their respective shelf lives; if you don’t have them feel free to use 25% olive oil (pomace) instead.
Looks great! Does it smell like syrup?! I love all your recipes! Thank you! Andrea McMillan,from Idaho, USA.
Thanks, Andrea! Sadly there’s no maple scent—to be expected, really, when barely any maple syrup is used and it’s not terribly fragrant 🙂 Essential oils used in these amounts wouldn’t do much, and they’re much more potent!
Is it safe to put the soap batter into the freezer with food, or does it need it’s own space? I noticed you added more clay than is usually in your older recipes. Is it just for this recipe, or a new preference? This soap looks fun. I’m waiting patiently for your book!
I just popped mine in with everything else—everything in my freezer is sealed away in bags and tubs so I can’t imagine it being a problem. I did put it on its own shelf, but that was more because I needed the space to lay the mould flat than for any other reason.
I am so smitten with my lots & lots of clay soap that I seem to keep adding more and more clay to all my soaps now haha 😛
That soap looks beautiful and so yummy, just like milk chocolate! 🙂 I’ve never used maple syrup in soap, but I made soap with honey and bees wax once, and it was quite nice.
Thanks Signe! I need to try honey and beeswax soap again, now that I’m more experienced 🙂
I am a maple syrup junkie lol. Does it smell like maple syrup?
Hey Jacquie! Sadly there’s no maple scent—to be expected, really, when barely any maple syrup is used and it’s not terribly fragrant 🙂 Essential oils used in these amounts wouldn’t do much, and they’re much more potent!
It looks amazing! I’m making a tres leches soap here this weekend (Spanish for three milks), and using frozen goat milk, ice cold coconut milk, and powdered milk. I’m using a coconut FO, and I know the soap will be beige or tan so I’m keeping some out for TD to swirl in each silicone cavity (also using round molds to look like cakes!=
I hope it turns out. I’ve been cleaning and reorganizing my freezer all week to make room for two trays! It’s soaping weekend; I have at least one other planned that I need ready in June that’s themed after a TV show. Soap: it’s an addiction….
Thanks, Perstephanie! How did your Tres Leches soap turn out? It sounds awesome! You should share a photo on the Humblebee & Me facebook page 😀
Oh! I got distracted and made “Orange Is the New Black” soap to raffle off my blog, then I got hit with orders for jelly (the thing I make that actually makes money), so I still need to make it. Add in that it’s burner season and I’m super busy. Interfuse and Flipside are the Regionals close to me that just happened, and Gateway is in two weeks. But Tres Leches soap will happen and I’ll put it on FB for you.
Ha! What a fun soap idea 🙂 Freezer Burn is coming up over here, I’m BEYOND stoked 😀 Time to start pulling out all the sequins and the colourful tights! *happy dance*
Hash tag allthebling, lol
You’ll be happy to hear my tutu/overalls thing was a hit 😉
I’m thrilled your tutu creation was successful! I’d ask for pics but that’s a whole new kind of blog! Grin!
So the “whipped” soap I made last weekend was successful and does indeed float! This weekend I’ve been asked to make a minty and fresh soap for TTITD and I’m making a liquid version of course, as well as something a lot like the peppermint soap you have in your recipes. Ground peppermint “extract” is cost prohibitive right now but I’m using a blend of minty essential oils and trying my hand for the second time ever at hot processing a bar soap. Wish me all the luck.
If you’d like a bar of the whipped soap, email me your contact info. I won’t ship until it’s cured in a few weeks, but I’d be happy to send you a floating soapy bar as a gift. Gifting… It’s what we do best!
So cool! You could make little floaty soap clouds or icebergs 😛 Pair it with a Titanic soap that sinks like a rock, haha! And I will totally take you up on a bar of that soap 😉 Thank you and good luck!
Looks lovely! I made soap this spring with maple sap, saving all my precious syrup for pancakes and waffles. Has it really been five years?? Wow!
Oooh, maple sap sounds like so much fun to work with—I wish it was available out here, I’ll have to keep an eye out! And yeah… 5 years passes fast! Humblebee & Me’s 5 year birthday isn’t until September, but I got into soaping before actually starting the blog. Yowza!
In my experience,individual molds reduce the chance of soap overheating. The color is quite lovely. Is that mauve?
That’s exactly why I went with them 🙂 The colour isn’t purpley in person, but it is warmer/redder than a straight up brown. I quite like it!
Love that beautiful, creamy look and I’ve never had dark maple syrup so I clearly need to get hold of some!
Cutting down on water helps protect soap (sugar soap included) from signs of overheating. When soap gets hot, the water in the soap expands rapidly. The more water and heat the more expansion, possibly with puffing, cracks and volcanoes as the result. Soap with less water gets hot from sugars too, but is better adapted to dealing with the heat.
Thanks so much, Clara! I’ll have to try dropping a bit of water next time I soap with sugar 🙂
I have trouble with scent staying in soap. Does this maple scent hang around? Any tips on how to keep scents?
Hey Candy! How much essential oil are you using in your soaps, and which ones in particular are you having trouble with? You shouldn’t expect any maple scent from this soap whatsoever—we’re barely using any maple syrup is used and it’s not terribly fragrant 🙂 Essential oils used in these amounts wouldn’t do much, and they’re much more potent!
Hi Marie,
Vanilla scent is being elusive and I have yet to get orange or grapefruit to stick.
Noted on the scent for this maple soap but i do love the color and will grab my syrup. 🙂
I do see you mention the room temp soap method not melting your oils all the way. I started with this process as my first attempt at soap years ago and is my fav method. My instructions were always to use half solid oil and half liquid oil. Melt the solid in the lye mix then add the liquid. Wonderful results every time. If your recipe has more solid, zap it (solids) in the microwave a bit to help it along before adding to the lye water.
Hey Candy! Have you tried using benzoin for your vanilla note? I’ve had good success with it. For the citrus EOs, try using the 5 fold ones, and also try incorporating a bit of litsea cubeba EO to anchor them. Litsea cubeba (also sold as May Cheng) is quite citrussy smelling, so it’ll blend well, and seems to help pin down the rest of the citrus smell. For reference, I add 30g of essential oils for every 500g of fat in a soap recipe.
I tried the totally room temperature thing again with my next batch (recipes incoming!) and melted the solid fats ahead of time—what a huge help! I wish I lived somewhere warm enough that nature would do it for me 😉
Thank you for the tip! I will get my hands on some of those and give it a whirl!
I actually go with a tablespoon per pound of oils when I’m making soap with honey. I haven’t had a problem with it yet.
Cool, thanks for sharing! Do you take any heat precautions?
I’ve never had any issues with it. I make a lot of goat’s milk, oatmeal & honey soap in 3″ PVC molds, insulated with towels. I add it at trace.
Neat, thanks for sharing!
Hi, i have been using your recipes with great success and wish to thank you for this, i wanted to begin a soap business but held back as we were moving countries. Now we are settled and want to begin i had to stock up on soap for home use so i ordered some coconut oil from a different supplier. The water at my new home is from a bore hole. Now my soaps reach trace so fast i find it hard to do anything with them and has affected my confidence. Do you have any experience of this? its got to be either the water or the coconut as thats all i have changed. i will order some coconut from the suppliers i used to use and see what happens, but thought i would ask you first to see if you could shed any light? thank you you are brill for what you do.
Hey Michelle! In this event I think it would be the water that is causing the problem, assuming you’re using the same formula with the new coconut oil (I’m guessing the water is really high in some sort of mineral that could be accelerating things). What temperature are you soaping at? Is it possible to lower it? Are you using any new fragrance oils? Can you try using distilled water for a batch and see if that helps?
hi, thanks for your reply. I have now changed back to the old supplier for coconut and it seems to have worked. i was able to pipe again with no worries.I soap at 32 ( c I think it is). If it happens again i will try distilled water but it seems OK. Today i soaped at 25 ( my error too busy doing other things and it did give me more time to work with it, so perhaps i really should try your room temp as i have been meaning to try it for some time now. Made Chocolate gateaux soap today!
How interesting! Not at all what I would’ve guessed, but I’m glad you got your problem solved. And yes, do give the full-on room temperature thing a go, it’s brilliant!
Can I Sub the lard for shea butter as I am vegan?
Good morning Marcy!
Please take a look at this article before you make any swaps. If you swap out the tallow/lard, you will change the property of the soap and won’t be making Marie’s soap. I’d suggest using a blend of avocado oil and olive oil rather than using that much shea. Don’t forget to plug your new formula through SoapCalc before giving it a go!
Hello, I love your recipes
I have a question when I use the soapcla. I am not sure how much of the additives I use. Like I am making 5 lbs, of soap do I still only use 2 tablespoons of clay and so on? I am just curious be fore I make it.
Additives scale with the recipe, which is why I list them “per 500g oils”. That means for every 500g oils you need 2 tbsp clay. 5lbs = 2270g, 2270g/500g = 4.54, 4.54 x 2 = 9.08. So, you’d need approximately 9 tbsp clay for 5lbs of oils.