I Tried Following A Soap Cupcake Tutorial

Safiya introduces her new soap-making venture: creating cupcake-shaped soaps. Inspired by dessert-like soaps she's seen, she decides to follow a tutorial. She acknowledges her previous, 'mediocre' attempt at soap art and expresses excitement for this new challenge. The tutorial chosen is from Anne-Marie of 'Soap Queen,' whose content she has used before. Safiya highlights the importance of safety when working with lye, a dangerous chemical integral to cold process soap making.

The tutorial is split into two days due to required prep work. Day one involves making melt-and-pour soap embeds for decoration and preparing the oil mixture and lye water for the frosting. Safiya personalizes her cupcakes by choosing gray and stormy blue colors and bat/star/moon molds instead of Anne-Marie's pink designs. She melts the melt-and-pour soap, adds mica colorants, and pours them into the molds, though not without some initial struggles. She then measures and melts the oils for the frosting, followed by preparing the lye water, both of which need to be refrigerated overnight to be cold for the next day's frosting process. Emphasizes the need for safety gear when handling lye.

On day two, Safiya starts with the cupcake base. She prepares her colorant (a deep purple orchid mica) and fragrance oils (champagne and white rose). She then measures and melts the various oils for the base, followed by preparing the lye water. Unlike the frosting, the base oils and lye water need to be around 120°F when combined for saponification. She carefully mixes the oil and lye water using a stick blender, aiming for a 'light trace' (a specific thickness) before adding the colorants and half of the fragrance blend. The mixture is then poured into cupcake molds, ensuring to tap them to release air bubbles.

The most challenging part of the process is making the soap frosting. Safiya uses a hand mixer to soften the chilled oil mixture before slowly folding in the cold lye water, taking care to prevent splashing. She emphasizes the difficulty of hand-mixing to achieve the right consistency for piping. After blending for several minutes, aiming for noticeable 'peaks', she incorporates the rest of the fragrance oil. The frosting requires a delicate balance of softness for piping and strength to hold its shape. Safiya then attempts to pipe the frosting onto the cupcake bases, starting with a dollop in the center and working her way around, acknowledging the learning curve and slight imperfections.

Final touches involve adding silver holo glitter and the previously made embeds. Safiya is pleased with how her bat, star, and moon embeds turned out, even salvaging some that were initially messy. She strategically places the embeds on the frosted cupcakes, aiming for a 'nocturnal' aesthetic inspired by clouds and flying bats. The finished cupcakes are refrigerated to help the frosting set. The next day, she demolds the cupcakes, revealing unique, handmade results. She notes that while they are cute and intact, they lack uniformity. She explains that the soaps must cure for four to six weeks for the water to evaporate, making them hard and long-lasting. She demonstrates their lathering ability but finds their shape a bit awkward for handwashing, suggesting they might be better as decorative items. Despite the challenges, she feels a sense of accomplishment and humorously advises viewers not to eat them.