If you’ve ever wanted to schmear yourself in spiced vanilla frosting and have it render your skin soft and glowy instead of sticky and covered in lint, I’ve got good news for you—Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter. Awww, yeah. This stunning butter smells divine and has a consistency similar to that of marshmallow spread, but without the moment of “why on earth do I own this?!” when you find it in your cupboard next to some old vegemite and nuts from a 2008 Christmas basket. You will always know why you own this because it is wonderful. You just might wonder why you haven’t used it all yet 😃
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My favourite thing about this butter is how it’s delightfully—surprisingly—light and non-greasy, thanks to mango butter starring in the oil blend. If you’ve never worked with mango butter before, you should. In most things non-soap, it’s replaced shea butter for me. It has a consistency very similar to shea butter—soft, rich, and creamy—but it lacks the greasiness of shea butter. Shea butter was one of my first butter loves, so I certainly don’t want to write it off, but a big part of working well with ingredients is acknowledging their strengths and weaknesses; and shea butter is greasy. Depending on your preferences you might consider that to be a strength, but I’m not hugely keen on it—when I first started using it I definitely left greasy finger prints on paper and smears on my sheets, and I guess I just thought that’s how things had to be. But it’s not! Mango butter is just as decadent as shea, but it sinks into your skin so quickly leaving an almost dry feeling (not dries-out-your-skin dry, just not-greasy dry).
I’ve complimented the mango butter with some mowrah butter and rice bran oil. Mowrah butter is also a soft, creamy butter with a relatively fast absorption speed. It is still oily, but I don’t find it to be heavy. Mowrah (Madhuca longifolia) comes from central and north India, and it goes by many other names including mohua, honey tree, moha, mohua, madhuca, illuppai, mavagam, nattiluppai, and tittinam. The butter is extracted from the seeds, and is mostly composed of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids (source, source, source). If you don’t have it you can use more mango butter or refined shea butter instead.
There’s definitely a few fussy bits to making whipped butters that feel nice, whip up, and stay soft after whipping. My attempts from 5+ years ago created things that whipped, to be sure, and they continued to look whipped—they just didn’t feel whipped. Part of this is definitely due to my constant inclusion of cocoa butter in whipped butters… it makes sense that something that is brittle at room temperature would eventually return to that consistency. One of the keys to making a whipped butter that stays soft is using a lot of butters that are soft. A bit of a “duh” moment for me, that 😝
I think you’re going to love this luscious Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter—this batch is large enough to keep some and gift some, too! It’ll fill about 500mL of space, so you could create five 100mL jars, gift four, and save one for yourself 😉 Happy whipping!
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Vanilla Spice Whipped Body Butter
49g | 1.73oz rice bran oil
50g | 1.76oz mowrah butter
100g | 3.53oz mango butter (USA / Canada)1g | 0.03oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
1.8g | 8 “blobs” benzoin resinoid
0.31g | 6 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
0.05g | 2 drops clove bud essential oil
0.04g | 2 drops nutmeg essential oil
2020 update: Given the irritation potential for this essential oil blend, I’d recommend using a vanilla spice fragrance oil rather than the essential oil blend. Please refer to supplier documentation for maximum usage rates for the particular fragrance oil you’re using when used in leave-on products.
3/8 tsp bronze mica
Weigh the rice bran oil, mowrah butter, and mango butter into a smallish, deep, microwave-safe mixing bowl. Melt the oils and butters together with a few 15–20 second bursts in the microwave, stopping to stir and scrape the bowl down between bursts (I needed four 20-second bursts). Once everything has just liquefied, pop the bowl into the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes.
To whip up this beauty, you’ll need a set of electric beaters. We’ll be whipping for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down, and then freezing for 3 more minutes. And then doing that a few times. Set timers! The whipping will feel like it’s taking way longer than 3 minutes, and 3 minutes of freezing will whip (ha) past without notice. You’re looking for soft peaks, like you’re whipping cream. Yum
Here’s what I did:
- Whip 3 minutes, scrape down, freeze 3 minutes.
- Whip 3 minutes, scrape down, freeze 3 minutes.
- Whip 3 minutes, scrape down, freeze 3 minutes.
- Add essential oils and mica. Whip 3 minutes, scrape down, leave.
When you think you’re done whipping, leave the body butter for about 20 minutes. After twenty minutes, if the body butter is still marshmallowy and soft, you’re done! Lightly spoon it into two 250mL/8oz tins and enjoy!
Substitutions
- You can use more mango butter, refined shea butter, or refined cupuacu butter instead of the mowrah butter. Using shea will make for a slower absorbing, greasier final product.
- You can use a different mid to lightweight liquid oil instead of the rice bran oil
- Please don’t swap out the mango butter; while shea butter has a similar consistency it is much greasier, and will ruin the fast-absorbing nature of this whipped butter
- I tried a vanilla fragrance oil instead of the benzoin. I didn’t really love it, but you’re welcome to use one if you have one you like!
This looks absolutely luscious Marie! I, too, have had trouble with whipped butters that don’t stay that nice, light, fluffy, whipped consistency. Going to check out Jane’s Guide now! Thanks Marie!
Woohoo! Happy whipping 😀
Hello,
Have you ever worked with Kokum butter? I would like to make a body butter with another butter other than She’s butter. Cupuacu would be another choice as well.
Yes; you can find things I’ve shared that use it here. I’d consider it too hard to use much of in a whipped body butter. Have you checked out my other whipped body butter formulas? There are quite a few from the last couple years that use different butters 🙂 Happy making!
Hi Marie!
What about using cupuacu butter instead of the mowrah butter?
And speaking of cupuacu butter, have you ever gotten it from New Directions? I’m thinking of ordering some, and some of their mango butter too!
Yes! Good call—I’ve added it to the subs list. All my cupuacu butter and mango butter have been from NDA 🙂
I have the same question as Claire… just got myself some cupuaçu butter and wanted to use that instead since I don’t have mowrah butter. Thanks!
Yup! Just make sure it’s deodorized 🙂
Hi! I love your recipes and all the new ideas for making things. But what I love most is the new ingredients I learn about (that I would otherwise have no idea what to do with or where to even start). I also just wanted to mention a US company that carries a lot of excellent ingredients and is always adding new ones to their list. Nature’s Garden Wholesale Candle and Soap Supplies. I didn’t see this on your list. I stumbled across this company several years ago and they have some of the best prices I can find anywhere. TKB Trading (which I saw was on your list) is also the best for finding difficult to source cosmetic ingredients (sadly I’m not getting paid to promote them lol – but I was just hoping the info could be helpful to someone). Thank you for all your hard work and wonderful information.
Thanks so much! I’ve added Nature’s Garden to my list 🙂 Thanks for contributing!
Good morning Marie!
Loved your necklace by the way!
I have found that whipped butters are just not for me here as the temps fluctuate way too much!
I have been thinking of a mango butter + rice bran or wheat germ emulsed body butter though for an age. I’m now seriously tempted to use your essential oil blend and whip it up!
Thank you—I love it, too! Bummer about the whippy-killing-temps, though 🙁
So would capuacu butter whip up like mango butter?
Should do, yup! I should definitely try it, yum 😀
I recently made your chamomile winter hand cream using the steric acid and I love it. Can steric acid be used in whipped butters. I do love the creaminess is supplies and want to incorporate in other products. Wondering if it would make the butter too heavy to hold the whipped consistency
You should be able to, but I would use more liquid oils to compensate. It’ll likely take some experimentation to get the right balance, but I bet the end results would be lovely!
This recipe sounds amazing!! We haven’t owned a microwave in years. Is it okay to melt on the stove top?
Yup!
Does this recipe work well making a larger batch?
I haven’t tried it (this batch is already pretty big!), but in theory it should. The only thing that will likely change is the chill/whip/freeze times as larger amounts will obviously take longer to change temperature and whip up.
I made this and it still ‘hardens’ up, it is airy but not light. More of a solid light butter. should I whip it again? I love the fast absorbency, lush is he feel and wonderful smell of this butter but was hoping it was going to stay lighter, fluffier. Suggestions?
Mine hardened up a bit, but not completely. If yours has really seized up I’d recommend gently re-melting it and trying the whipping again, and perhaps leave it longer when you think you’re done to confirm it stays light 🙂
The Making Skincare guidelines and troubleshooting link does not work….
Jane is currently updating her website; I’m afraid I’ve got no control over that, but hopefully it returns soon :/
Hi Marie, can I use an immersion blender instead of electric beater? Thx
No, they do completely different things. Immersion blenders are for pureeing, electric beaters are for whipping air into things. We want to whip air into a whipped body butter 🙂
Does melting the butter kill the vitamins?
As long as you aren’t scorching the butters it’s fine 🙂
Ok. Thank u!
Hello, i have made approximately 6 different body butter recipe and they all tend to leave my body feeling good but it leaves my hands feeling dry. Do you have any idea of why that is? Thank you.
If you skin needs water, no amount of oil is going to make it feel hydrated—it’s sort of like drinking olive oil if you’re thirsty! You need water, no oil. Oil helps keep water in your skin and soften skin, but if there is a lack of water it won’t help much, so I’d suspect that is your problem 🙂 Try an emulsified lotion recipe—I’ve got a beginner’s video here!
Thank you so much I truly appreciate it. I will definitely try your lotion recipe.
Happy making!
Made this batch, and it turned out well, but I wasn’t such a big fan of the smell, so I ditched all the essential oils and instead added rose absolute EO and vanilla extract, and arrived at the most divine scent ever! I’m calling it Rose+Vanilla Body Whip!
How divine! Enjoy and thanks for DIYing with me 😀
Hi Marie, this looks DIVINE! It’s hard to tell from the photo, but what gives this butter that lovely shade of pink? Love your recipes, btw…and just cut my Earl Grey soap last night. Mmmmm!!!
All the colour comes from the mica I used 🙂 It makes sense that bronze would have a bit of red in it, and in small amounts it could look pink in some lights. Thanks for DIYing with me!
Hi! i really love your recipes. will try it soon! however, how long does this body butter lasts in a room temperature? or should i keep them in a fridge for a longer shelf life?
Hey! I’ve got an FAQ on shelf life 🙂
Hi
Can i use more mango butter instead of the mowrah butter? Would it make it more oily or will it fine?
Yup! It’ll make it less oily 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thank you for all your amazing recipes!
I tried to make one batch of this recipe (I divided the recipe by 4 and omitted the essential oils), but I couldn’t achieve this whipped texture. after 2 minutes of beating the whipped butter solidifies and become as hard as rock. I don’t know what went wrong as I followed all the steps of the recipes.
What do you think?
Hi Kimy!
Unfortunately, making something anhydrous like this formula, making a smaller amount is actually not a good idea. Making a whipped product requires a little finesse, and that means a little more is easier to work with. It would be like making just one muffin instead of a batch of them. I’d suggest trying again and making the full amount.
Hello,
I love this recipe.. I will try to make it but unfortunately I dont have any mowrah butter and cupuacu butter …
Can I use avocado buuter or sweet almond butter ?
Hey! I don’t recommend using a “pseudo butter” for this recipe—that is, a “butter” that is mostly hydrogenated vegetable/soya bean oil, as are the two products you’ve mentioned. You should use a true soft butter as a starting point 🙂
hi what can i use instead of mowrah butter and will i still use the same measurement 50g. thanks.
Good afternoon Lana,
In each and every blog Marie posts, she posts ingredient substitutions below the formula. The can be used as a straight swap!
I want to try this recipe but add Kokum butter. Since Kokum butter is a hard butter. What method should I use for it to stay whipped and not turn hard. Thanks
I don’t recommend it—the hard butter will create a hard end product. If you want the whippy, soft texture you have to use a soft butter.
Hi – have a few questions.
How do we scale this for a bigger batch ?
Also will this remain soft and fluffy in a hot humid climate – what precautions can we take to make sure it does?
Also when selling commercially can we add a broad spectrum preservative such as geogard ultra?
See this re: scaling.
And this re: hot weather.
For preservatives, please refer to the FAQ—there’s a whole section on them.
And this article re: selling things made from my formulations 🙂 I would suggest that if you are still asking questions about scaling & preservatives you are likely not ready to be selling to the public yet 🙂
Happy making!
Hello,
Mine seems to have a grainy texture. Do you know where I might be going wrong?
xx
Hey Anna! Please refer to this FAQ for some ideas 🙂
Ahh thanks Marie, I’ll give it another whirl