| I’m fairly sure that by now, every reader knows that I’m a Coffee Butter addict. Sometimes I think that I should start a Coffee Butter Addicts Anonymous group, because I’m positive that I’m not the only Coffee Butter addict in the world. Two years ago today, I was riding my bicycle and crashed into a curb. To make a long story short, I broke my left arm and in order for the bone to heal properly, I had to have a titanium plate and screws placed in my arm to hold the bone together. I finished physical therapy and I decided that I wanted a stiff body butter just like the one the therapy staff used on my arm. This is where my coffee addiction becomes apparent.
That August, I wandered the test kitchen to find some ingredients that I remembered that were in the butter my therapists used. I already knew I wanted Coffee Butter, but I needed to find something else that would work. I thought Mango Butter to help keep the balm pliable, White Cocoa Butter and Beeswax would help keep the balm firm, and Lanolin would give the balm the stiff drag I had fallen in love with. The first attempt wasn’t what I was looking for, so I went to find some help from the Technical Support Team. I was given some suggestions to add to the first attempt. Shea Oil, Avocado Oil, and Cyclomethicone were the three items that were suggested. I made 4 variations of the Body Balm, and each variation contained 17 grams of the first (failed or undesirable) attempt.
So, instead of having you make my funky batch, I have worked through the variation so you get to a good batch the first attempt. If you want to make my original then go to this Recipes Section link: here. You can then make my first attempt and the 4 variations. Today, I’m going to share the Body Balm recipe with Variation #2, which is my favorite.
Collect needed items:
Coffee Butter
Mango Butter
White Cocoa Butter
Lanolin
Beeswax
Shea Oil
Scale
Lotion Bar Tubes
Lotion Bar Filling Tray
Microwave safe container for mixing ingredients
Microwave
Spoon
Fragrance Oil if desired
Transfer Pipettes
The Lotion Bar Filling Tray helps fill 20 Lotion Bar Tubes and each tube holds 0.75 ounces. To find out how much Body Balm I needed to make, I simply calculated 20 x 0.75 = 14 ounces. I decided that I would convert the recipe to percentages so I could use any method of measurement and amount I wanted.
Recipe in Percentage
13% Coffee Butter
6% Mango Butter
17% White Cocoa Butter
12% Lanolin
17% Beeswax
35% Shea Oil
As I stated earlier, I need 15 ounces for 20 Lotion Bar Tubes. I multiplied the 15 ounces by the percentage to find each ingredients needed amount in ounces. The math looks like this Total Weight Needed (A) X Percentage of Material (B) = Weight of specific item (C) in same unit of measure used for A.
Recipe we are using today
1.95 ounces Coffee Butter (15 ounces * 13% = 1.95 ounces)
0.9 ounces Mango Butter
2.55 ounces White Cocoa Butter
1.8 ounces Lanolin
2.55 ounces Beeswax
5.25 ounces Shea Oil
Weigh all ingredients into the microwave safe container and microwave for _____. The beeswax will take the most amount of time to melt. If you stir the mixture periodically, the beeswax melt more quickly. Once everything is melted, pour into the lotion bar tubes using the filling tray. Allow the balm to cool and then scrape the top of the filling tray. Now remove the lotion bar tubes from the filling trays. If you have any other questions, refer to Plastic Tom’s Tutorial.
Once the lotion bar tubes have been filled and removed from the filling tray, cap the tubes. These are now ready for labels!
Notes:
This recipe will actually fill 21 tubes. I had made a slight calculation error and transposed some numbers on my tube weight in my notes. The Lotion Bar Tube will hold 0.70 ounces of this recipe. I apologize for my error on the weigh.
Notes:
If you are just wanting to make a small test batch, here is the test batch size.
Recipe for Test Batch
3.5 grams Coffee Butter
1.5 grams Mango Butter
4.5 grams White Cocoa Butter
3.0 grams Lanolin
4.5 grams Beeswax
9.0 grams Shea Oil
This will fill one Lotion Bar Tube, with a tiny bit extra to use immediately.
Next week is all about finishing up the Mother’s Day Gift Baskets!
 A close up of my arm two years later. |
