| I’m well known to be a Coffee Butter junkie, but I haven’t shared my other major junkie affliction. Yes, I am a chocoholic. Doesn’t that sound like an anonymous group of sorts? “Hello. My name is Andee and I’m a chocoholic.” Whoops! I think I got off topic! Anyway, I love to curl up with a book, a cup of coffee and some type of chocolate, whether it is a brownie, chocolate bar, Andes Mints, or chocolate cookies. Today, I thought it would be fun to make a cold process soap that could find its way into any chocoholics heart and the best thing about this soap is that it is calorie free! (Mostly because soap wouldn’t taste good to eat and who would want to eat soap anyway?)
Collect needed items:
Weigh the baking chocolate, chop into small chunks and set aside. Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Once the oils are melted, add the baking chocolate and stir until completely melted. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical. Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Add fragrance if you desire. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm. Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar. This soap smells like Devil’s Food Cake and allows any chocoholic to enjoy their addiction even while bathing! Notes: We only recommend 1/8 to 1/4 to ounce of baking chocolate per pound of fats in a batch. We are primarily using the baking chocolate for scent and color, so a little will go a long way! Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by March 1st for posts during February. Did you know that you can become a fan of Majestic Mountain Sage on Facebook? Receive the latest updates, blog post notifications and more!
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 Oils ready for the microwave.  Adding lye to the water.  Mixing the lye solution.  Melted oils.  Adding baking chocolate to the melted oils. |
 Baking chocolate mixed with the melted oils.  Mixing the batch together.  The batch is almost at trace. |
 Adding the lye solution to the batch.  Continuing to mix the batch.  Soaps sitting in the molds. |
*drools* This looks delicious! (Well, you know what I mean!) We’ve been looking for a good chocolate soap recipe, and this looks incredible! How strong is the chocolate scent when the soap is finished? You mentioned Devil’s Food Cake, but would you describe it as a light/medium/strong scent? We’ve made a cocoa butter batch before, but the chocolate scent is barely noticeable, and we wanted something with more of a chocolate kick.
Also, is there any way to do this with only cocoa powder, or would you recommend still making the baking chocolate first?
Thanks!
-Cheyenne
I like the baking chocolate first concept. Sometimes a powder doesn’t mix well with an oil and it needs a bit of time to saturate fully and become “one” with the oil.
If you want to use cocoa powder, try 1 teaspoon per lb of fats. Do not pack the teaspoon. Make it light and fluffy.
mmmm……. to bad this doesn’t taste like it looks! How the lather with this recipe? I made a chocolate soap last year that I threw away because it didn’t lather at all. Smelled great though. 🙂
You never need to throw away soap. You can grate it, make a new batch, and include the shavings to make a confetti look. The lather will be just fine. Thanks to the coconut oil!
Yum….could this recipe use Goats milk?
Most certainly!
I made chocolate soap once. I added almond milk and gave it a bit of spice with cinnamon, clove and an extra spoonful of cocoa powder. It went through the process wonderfully. I unmolded it just fine and it dried smelling heavenly the whole way through. Then much to my nightmare when I went to cut it 2-3 days later the very center turned to my a clear liquidy toxic smelling goo. It went everywhere! It was like a trojan horse! LOL. Do you happen to know what went wrong? Cause most of it looked and smelled great but the very center. That was the only time something like that had ever happened to me.
This is a problem with adding cinnamon and cloves, which accelerate the saponification reaction in a temperamental soap. All milk soaps are temperamental. We should always watch to make sure the heat doesn’t take off like wild horses. Milk soaps we start with lower temperatures, pour shallowly, and don’t add accelerants. This batch had just too much heat and you have the gelatinous goo in the center. This can be rebatched and used just fine. In the future use the chocolate, the milk and cocoa powder. Use the cinnamon and cloves in a water batch of soap.
Darn! Why didn’t I think of the confetti soap thing?! It would have been great to put chocolate chunks in a creamy vanilla soap. Maybe I’ll try that with a small batch of this chocolate soap.
So this is a little off subject but I needed to ask you a question and I can’t find anywhere else to do it- what I was wondering is if you could provide a recipe for children’s bath crayons (soap). I’ve found recipes online, but they all just call for ivory shavings and I have bought pretty much all the different soap ingredients from you guys and would like to make them from scratch and pour them into the animal faces molds. Any suggestions?
You could do this with melt and pour soap and lots of colorant. My concern with doing this is the color can be a pain to remove.
If you use a dye, expect that the grout could be colored and extreme cases of red color may leave the skin colored.
If you use a pigment, expect that the grout could be colored and wash cloths may not give up the color when laundered.
The dyes can’t color a wash cloth permanently because they are not able to attach to the fiber (cellulose). Pigments are like dirt and can be “ground” in and the fibers can hold on to the particles but they aren’t actually making the fiber a different color. Most of us have seen pigment colored
clothing. It also tends to be uneven and more matte colored.
So, while I think these can be done, and I think there is a lot of marketing behind them, and I think the “cool” factor is high, the practical side of me knows the work I must go to when I need to remove the color from my grout or laundry or that my kids go overboard on the red the day of their school pictures. So, as you can see, I am not a great fan of the concept for reasons which have me labeled “an old fart”.
Good luck, and may the force be with you.
Tina
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2 questions. Did you add FO to this recipe (if so what flavor please)?
And do you think this would work as a Hot Process? Thanks so much for your time
Leigh,
I did not add any fragrance to this soap. The Cocoa Butter and Baking Chocolate are what gave the soap the chocolate scent.
Yes. This soap should work as a Hot Process soap.
Good Luck!
if you dont have bakers chocolate would cacao butter work? i have both cacao and cocoa..
Katrina,
In this recipe, the baker’s chocolate is used for color. I am not familiar with cacao butter but unless it has the color, it will not be the same.
If you want to achieve this fudgy appearance, I would add some cocoa powder instead.
Cheers!
Taylor
Just came across this website and i was wondering…can this recipe substitute or remove the soybean oil? as I am allergic to that…because i would love to try to make this soap for myself (mainly) and maybe as gifts for family and close friends.
Angel,
Use palm oil instead and recalculate the lye needed just to be sure.
Cheers!
Thanks! for the response, Andee, but how do I recalculate the lye? I have never done anything like this before…..I need a “dummy” manual.
Angel,
I would recommend this blog post for how to recalculate lye.
http://blog.thesage.com/2009/07/30/how-to-use-the-original-lye-calculator/
Andee, Thank you so much for quick reply. I am gonna give it a go tonight. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again!
Thank you for sharing! It looks amazing!!!
I am going to share this recipe with my daughter….and I’m going to try it too!
Parece ser muito bom mesmo! estou a procura de uma receita para fazer um belo sabão de chocolate e parece que encontrei! pretendo usar com os óleos de Palma, Palmiste, Estearina de Palma e Oliva… mas estou com uma duvida que concentração de NaOH devo usar? 32% seria adequado?
Obrigado pela atenção.
Are you planning on using a liquid NaOH solution or mixing dry NaOH with a liquid of your choice? If using a liquid solution, it is best to use a mixture that is a 50/50 mixture. If you are mixing yourself, then we recommend 4 to 6 fluid ounces of water per pound of oils used. (113 to 170 milliliters per 450 grams)
I hope this helps!
Você está pensando em usar uma solução de NaOH líquido ou mistura NaOH seco com um líquido de sua escolha? Se utilizar uma solução líquida, o melhor é utilizar uma mistura que é uma mistura de 50/50. Se você está misturando-se, então recomendamos 4 a 6 onças fluidas de água por quilo de óleos usados. (113-170 mililitros por 450 gramas)
Espero que isso ajude!
Hello, that is a wonderful recipe and I want to try it this week. Thank you for sharing it. I am new to soap making and I was wondering about the fact that you said to let the soap cure for a few days. I was under the impression that cold process soap needed to cure for 4 to 6 weeks. Thank you.
A longer “cure” time simply extends life time that the soap will exist in your soap dish! Tina wrote a fantastic post about soap and cure recently.
Alternative for soybean oil?
Palm oil or tallow or lard.
Cheers!
I am wondering, do you gell your soap? And if not, will it get the ash on the surface? Because I made my first CP with no gell (I wanted to keep the colours I used), but the ash appeared on the top. What do you advice me?
I do allow my soaps to gel because it allows me to not worry about the soap stalling. Soda Ash is sodium carbonate that has formed when Sodium Hydroxide in the soap has had contact with Carbon Dioxide in the air. The best way to prevent Soda Ash is to cover the soap with plastic wrap. You can also wash the Soda Ash off after you cut the soap.
I hope this helps!
But, if you put a plastic wrap over your mold, like in the picture you put in this recipe, won’t it stick to the soap? What if the soap has a nice finished top? If you put something on it, you run th risk to destroy it 🙁
You can cover with a dome of some type that leaves very little air space to cause soda ash to develop.
Thank you so much for your answer. It helps a lot!
Is the cocoa butter what gives it the chocolate smell or the bakers chocolate?
Both the Regular Cocoa Butter and the Baking Chocolate give this soap the chocolate smell!
I spray a little bit of rubbing alcohol on the top of my soap to keep the soda ash away. So far, so good.
How do I post a question here about a problem I have with one of my homemade soaps, but not about this issue? PLEASE HELP TY
Just ask your question anywhere, or go to the About > Contact Us page and we will help.
TIna
I’m missing instructions on whether or not the soap needs to be covered in towels for the first 24 hours or if the heat of the added sugar from the baking chocolate will make this unnecessary?
Also, when you say “combining lye solution with oils”, you’re assuming that folks know enough about cold pressed soap making already and won’t pour the oils into the lye solution?
We don’t recommend covering soaps in towels because we would rather you start with temperatures between 115 and 130 Fahrenheit. As I made this unsweetened baking chocolate, there was not any sugar added to this soap and I did not have excess heat from sugars.
This post was ideally written for soapers that have a few batches of soap under their belts. We recommend our Intro to Cold Process Soap series for those who are just starting or want to read before jumping in.
I hope this helps!
Do you have any idea of shelf life and scent life when using bakers chocolate? Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks!
I have had soap last for more than 2 years with chocolate added.
Awesome! Thanks so much. Just wanted to check that it wasn’t short-lived!
Hi,
I was wondering if the lather of this soap is brown. Is there any way to prevent that?
Thanks for your post.
Yes, the lather is a bit brown. The only way to prevent the lather from being brown is to have the brown come from a fragrance oil and not a pigment or a plant powder. In the case of chocolate soap it is from a plant powder.
I do not have cocoa butter at the moment. Can I make this without it?
Cara,
Yes, you can make this without the cocoa butter but the aroma will be different and if you just drop this item you will need to adjust the lye and expect a softer soap.
Cheers!
Tina
Nevermind, I bought some baker’s chocolate and using Shea Butter instead… Making this tonight!
How did it turn out?
I just tried to make coffee soap. It crumbled when I tried to cut it. I didn’t freeze or chill the coffee first like I see I should have. Is there a way to save this? How do you know if it is too bad to use? I hate to toss it. Thanks! ~Cara
What recipe did you follow? If you want, please e-mail our Technical Support Team using the Contact Us form. We’ll try to help troubleshoot your soap!
We loved the chocolate soap! It wasn’t as dark as other’s I have seen. I am almost out already because I gave it for Christmas gifts. I am thinking I didn’t use enough chocolate. I only used one ounce in like 9lbs. of soap. I can’t find a good source to figure out how much to use. I have lots of baker’s chocolate ready! 🙂
I recommend using 1/4 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate per pound of fats. This will help prevent the baking chocolate from becoming a lather killer.
I hope this helps!
I’m wondering if the baking chocolate could be mixed at thin trace rather than with the oils before adding the lye solution? I ask because I’d like to make a batch, divide it and only have the chocolate scent and colour on half (the other half being a lighter mint)
Not sure if I can edit, but to clarify I’d melt the baking chocolate in a couple oz of oil that I usually add at trace anyway, not put it in dry.
Beth,
I think this is good idea. Chocolate will readily melt in your oils and no harm is done to the soap.
Cheers!
Tina
I did this and unfortunately got a partial gel, (my fault). The chocolate smell was EXTREMELY faint, so when I rebatched I upped my chocolate content to 1oz per pound of oils, after being unhappy with the 1/4 oz. Anyway, I also rebatched using coconut milk and water to melt my soap after grating it. Let me tell you, I’ve got Mounds candy bar smelling soap! Beautifully dark from the extra chocolate, I grated some left over pure coconut oil soap I had on top to look like shredded coconut.
Bethany,
It sounds delightful! We learned too that the lighter chocolate makes a weaker scented soap. We use the dark stuff and potent stuff (ours has black cocoa as part of the blend).
I’m so happy to hear how you changed an unsatisfying soap into a work of wonder!
Tina
How many pounds of soap does this recipe make? And would it be ok to use semisweet bakers chocolate?oh and one more thing, where do you find cocoa butter? I have just started making my own soap and can’t wait to find a good choc recipe!
Thanks
The recipe will make about 6.25 to 6.5 lbs of soap.
We get our cocoa butter from http://www.thesage.com!
Semi Sweet Baker’s Chocolate will be fine. Unless you want to make brownies from that and get some unsweetened. 😉
Tina