Tutorial: Midnight Star Melt and Pour Soap Cake Recipe

This tutorial is brought to you courtesy of Ariane.

In my shop, I always have a Cake of the Day soap sitting on the counter by the cash register. My regular clients love to come back weekly to check what’s new on the cake plate! Melt and pour soap cakes are a wonderful way to test new fragrance oils, as you will know right away if your clients like it, watching the cake disappear…

 Ariane & Her Finished Melt and Pour Soap Cake with Star Embeds!

For my melt and pour soap cakes, I use a silicone bundt cake mold that I purchased in a kitchen store. To keep the silicone mold steady and in-shape, I place it inside a similar non-stick metal mold.

Here is a silicone bundt cake mold similar to mine (or check your local kitchen department store):

 Using a silicone bundt cake pan inside a metal pan for support to create a melt & pour soap cake!

Each finished melt and pour soap cake weighs around 2500 grams (88.18 ounces) and creates about 16 slices of soap about 156 grams (5.5 ounces) each.

Midnight Star Melt and Pour Soap Cake Recipe

• 37.4 ounces (1060 grams or 40.74%) of white goats milk Melt & Pour soap base
• 52.9 ounces (1500 grams or 57.65%) of clear Melt & Pour soap base
• 1.5 ounces (42 grams or 1.61%) of Black Berry fragrance oil
• Spray Bottle of Rubbing Alcohol (find it at the drugstore)
• Scale, glass measuring cups, thermometer and soaping utensils
• 2 Star Column Molds (Wholesale Supplies Plus)
• A long knife with a non-serrated blade

I use a double handled cheese knife to cut my melt and pour soap cake slices. You can buy your melt and pour soap bases, fragrance oils and other additives from: Bramble Berry, Wholesale Supplies Plus, New Directions Aromatics, or your favorite supplier!

Colorants Used

• 1 teaspoon Klein Blue mica (Nurture Soap Supplies)
• 1 1/8 teaspoon Blue Vibrance mica (Nurture Soap Supplies)
• ½ teaspoon Super Sparkle Biodegradable Glitter (Nurture Soap Supplies)

TO MAKE THE STAR EMBEDS: First, chop up and weigh 400 grams of white soap base. Melt the white soap base slowly over low heat in a small stainless steel stockpot. Always keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t overheat or boil.

You could also do this in a melting tank, if you have one, or use a microwave on short 20 second bursts. Depending on the soap base you are using, melting temperature may vary, so check with your supplier! (The bases that I am using work best between 130° and 150° F.)

Once the soap has melted and cooled to a pouring temperature, pour the white soap base into the star molds. Then, let the soap set completely for 1 to 2 hours. This can also be done a day ahead! 

Pop the star soap columns out of the molds and place the embeds on a ruler. Cut one-inch stars using a small utility knife. I didn’t color or scent these white stars as the rest of the soap will be scented later.

 Cut the melt and pour soap embeds into 1 inch long pieces so they are ready to go in your soap cake!

GETTING STARTED: Now that the star soap embeds are ready, you will make four different shades of blue soap and you will repeat the same process to melt and pour each of them. Before you get started, prepare your soap by cutting all the clear and white melt & pour soap base so that is all ready to go.

For the first layer of your melt and pour soap cake, melt 500 grams of clear melt & pour soap slowly over low heat (or in the microwave or melting tank as before). Once melted, add 10 grams of fragrance oil and 1 teaspoon of Klein Blue mica. Spritz the colorant in the soap with rubbing alcohol to help disperse the colorant, and stir until mixed. On a level surface, pour the blue clear soap into the silicone cake mold.

 Pour the first layer of the melt and pour soap cake.

Spritz the top of the melt and pour soap with rubbing alcohol and wait for the soap to set. The soap needs to be thick enough to support a new layer!

LAYER IT: Once the first layer is firm enough, melt another 500 grams of clear melt & pour for the second layer. Once melted, add 10 grams of fragrance oil, ½ teaspoon of blue vibrance mica, and ¼ teaspoon of biodegradable super sparkle mica.

 The glittery light blue layer of melt and pour soap melted and ready for pouring!

Gather your sixteen white star soap embeds and spritz them with rubbing alcohol. I like to use a bowl to place all my embeds and spray, so I can toss and turn them to evenly coat the outside with rubbing alcohol. Spritz the surface of the blue soap already set in the mold with rubbing alcohol. Then, align the stars all around evenly on top of that first layer.

You will need to work quickly, before the alcohol dries up! Spritz as needed, so that the layers bond together when you pour the second layer. Once you have the embeds in place, pour the second layer of soap.

 Pour the second layer of the soap cake over the star embeds in the mold.

For the third layer, once again you need to wait long enough so that the second layer is firm enough!

Melt 500 grams of clear melt and pour soap base with 160 grams of white melt & pour soap base. Add 12 grams of fragrance oil, ½ teaspoon of blue vibrance mica, ¼ teaspoon of biodegradable super sparkle mica. Stir with a spoon or stick blender until all the mica is dispersed.

Don't forget to use a spritz of rubbing alcohol as you go to help break up the clumps of colorants and disperse them evenly in the soap.

Spritz the last layer poured with rubbing alcohol and pour the third layer of the soap cake. Always make sure to watch your temperature so that you don’t melt your star embeds!

 Pour the third layer of the melt & pour soap cake: it should cover up the star embeds!

FINISH IT UP: Melt the remaining 500 grams of white melt & pour soap base. Then, add in 10 grams of fragrance oil and 1/8 teaspoon of Vibrance Blue mica, stirring until dispersed.

Once the third layer of the cake is hard enough, spritz with rubbing alcohol, pour that soap and give yourself a high five!

 Pour the last layer of the soap cake, and give yourself a pat on the back!

Let the soap cool and completely set until the next day.

UNMOLDING AND CUTTING: Once the soap is fully hardened, simply flip the mold over and pull on the sides of the silicone mold to release.

 Unmold and cut the finished melt and pour soap cake!

Using a large knife with a non-serrated blade cut the soap into sixteen slices, trying to cut through each star. If you aligned the stars, this should be… a piece of cake! Haha! You could also choose to wrap the whole cake in plastic film and store it away from sunlight until it is ready to be cut, wrapped and labeled.

WRAP IT: You can get creative and wrap these soap slices in many different ways! With melt and pour soap, each soap should be wrapped in some sort of plastic film, to protect it from attracting moisture.

For these soap cake slices, I decided to use triangular cello candy bags. I sealed the excess tip of the bag and used pretty ribbons to tie and close each bag. Display in a cake plate or something fun. Voila, you have your Midnight Star soap cake done!

 Using conical treat bags to wrap soap cake slices with my shrinkwrap system.

Now, use your imagination and make other soapy cakes for any occasion! You can make a lot of cakes at one time by increasing the recipe size. To do so, multiply the ingredients in this recipe by the number of cakes you wish to make.

Always make sure to label accordingly. (And use good manufacturing practices, if you intend to sell your soaps.)

 Wrapped & finished soap cake slices!

Thanks for reading. I will be back with some more fun tutorials very soon. Happy Holidays!