When the cold weather hits, you can almost always find me with a hot beverage in hand – cider, tea, hot chocolate and nearly any type of coffee concoction. One of my favorite wintertime treats is the peppermint mocha. It’s the perfect drink to kick off the Christmas season – chocolatey, minty and needlessly caloric. What more could you ask for?
In the midst of my beverage craving, I thought it’d be fun to make a soap based on the peppermint mocha. It looks almost good enough to eat, and the chocolate, coffee and peppermint combination smells delicious. This soap is definitely a winter treat for your body.
What food or drink would you turn into a soap recipe?
Peppermint Mocha Soap
Makes about sixteen 2.5-3 ounce bars of soap
For the full cold process soap making instructions, check out Tiffany’s beginner’s soap making tutorial. This recipe requires you to make two separate soap mixes and then swirl them together at the end.
*Sunflower oil is great for swirled soaps because it slows down trace.
Peppermint Soap Recipe
Base Oils
2.4 oz. sunflower oil (10% of total oils)
7.2 oz. olive oil (30% of total oils)
7.2 oz. canola oil (30% of total oils)
7.2 oz. coconut oil (30% of total oils)
Lye Solution
7 oz. water
3.4 oz. lye
Additives
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint essential oil at trace.
Mocha Soap Recipe
Base Oils
.88 oz. sunflower oil* (10% of total oils)
2.62 oz. olive oil (30% of total oils)
2.62 oz. canola oil (30% of total oils)
2.62 oz. coconut oil (30% of total oils)
Lye Solution
2.5 oz. double strength coffee (make sure this is as room temperature before mixing with lye)
1.25 oz. lye
Additives
Add 1/4 ounce of bakers chocolate and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to your melted oils. Make sure chocolates are completely mixed into the oils.
Soap Swirling Instructions
1. Refer to Tiffany’s soap making tutorial for the full soap making instructions.
2. To create this particular recipe, make both soaps (peppermint and the mocha) at the same time but in separate containers.
3. When both soaps have reached trace, pour the peppermint soap into your mold. Then drizzle your mocha soap over your peppermint soap.
4. Using a knife (or other utensil), drag lines through the soap to create a swirled effect. For a diagram on how to do that, click here.
5. Let your soaps cure for 24-48 hours and then cut into bars. Remember to let your soaps cure for a full 4-6 weeks before using or gifting.
Love your soap and the tutorlal. I did try to copy it to include with my daughters Christmas gift (yep, soap molds and ingredients), It was just to lignt to copy. that included your heading because I wanted her to see where it came from so she could join you. I wish a darker color was used because of this; Love your site!!! Thank you for all the great ideas.
Thanks so much for your feedback and I’m glad you’re enjoying the soap tutorials! We’re in the process of making some exciting changes to our site, and making the posts more printer-friendly is definitely on our list of to-dos. I hope you enjoy the rest of the site and we’ll have site updates and improvements in the near future!
Dangerous–I would want to take a bite!
Haha – Probably wouldn’t taste too good, but it definitely smells yummy!
Sounds good enough to eat!
Thanks! My husband was a bit disappointed when he realized it was soap in the tray and not some sort of chocolate bar. Even though you can’t eat it, it’s definitely a treat for your body anyway!
This is on my list of soaps to make! I’m a new soaper and you’re orange soap recipe inspired me to get started in early fall! Just out of curiosity, how much soap does this recipe make? Four pounds?
So glad you’ve started soaping! This soap recipe will make about 3 pounds. Hope you like it!
I am sure I know the answer to this question…. but I want to know if I can re-use the knife I cut my soap with for non-soaping purposes. I know the blender, bowls etc. need to be soap exclusive- but does the cutting tool? After the first 24 hour cure and then cutting into bars I want to re-use that knife.
Thanks!
Love your website and so excited to make my own soap.
So sorry for my delayed response to your question. After 24 hours, the knife is not in contact with raw lye, so you can just wash it and use it. Wash it well, though, because the soap residue may build up over time – definitely give it a good scrub. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the detailed instructions. My problem is getting a pretty swirl and your link is great. The soap has something extra when it is as beautiful to look at as it smells!
I’m so glad you liked the post! The swirling can be tricky, but I’m glad you found that link helpful. Another key to swirling is to use oils that slow down “trace”, such as sunflower oil. Happy soaping!
Just wondering what size mold you use for this recipe? I have just started making soap and my loaf is about 40 ounces. I am not really sure if I need to double the recipe or ifit will fit.
I made this recipe before I owned a loaf mold, so I used two of these rectangular bar molds: https://www.thesage.com/catalog/products/Rectangle-Bar-Tray-Mold.html, which each hold max 2 lbs. Hope that helps!
Did you pour all of the mocha soap into the peppermint or did you pour a certain amount?
Yes! I used all of the mocha soap that the recipe above makes. In my recipes, you’ll notice that the mocha soap is a much smaller batch than the peppermint soap. I did this so that the final product had the color mixture that I liked. Hope that helps!