I have salted caramel cake pops, cherry trifle, tiramisu brownie bites, and lemon filled Pavlovas, garnished with a mint leaf. Yum!
However, I won't be taking a bite out of any of these- they are all soap! I made them for the latest soap challenge, and it was quite the learning curve. It was also lots of fun. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of the process, because I had to move fast. Here's what I do have.
I needed to make four different desserts for the challenge, but ended up with six different mini-desserts. I wanted to make mini cupcakes, since I'm known as the cupcake queen in my family. I'd also decided to make little lemon tarts. I knew I'd need some melt and pour fruit, so I made some 'cherries' in my mini-round mold.
The first day, I made my soap batter which included half and half as my food ingredient, and divided it into three sections:
The pink batter went into my mini cupcake molds to make strawberry cupcakes. I colored another section dark brown with cocoa powder, and put it into a small square mold for the brownie bites. The third section I split again; part colored with just a wee bit of cocoa powder, and the other part white with titanium dioxide. I used that to make the trifles, which were molded in votive candle glasses. I also used some of the natural batter to make the crust for my lemon tarts in the heart shaped mold. This is what I ended up with on the first day. . .
On the second day, I made another batch of the same recipe. I saved some out at a thin trace to dribble, then I blended the rest to a thicker trace, because I knew I would be piping with it. I piped dollops on the trifle. I layered the brownie bites with thick soap 'cream'. I piped frosting on my strawberry cupcakes.
I had enough soap left to pipe the Pavlovas- I wasn't real happy with how the tart crusts had turned out, so I wanted a backup plan. And, I had enough soap, so why not?
I also played with the soap fondant described in Cee's video. I made strawberry halves with leaves. I made mint leaves in a candy mold. I made coffee beans to go on the brownie bites. I found it easier to make the leaves by melting the fondant and pouring it into the leaf mold, refrigerate, and pop it out after it hardened.
Some of the tart crusts stayed fairly soft, so I decided to make cake pops with those. I just rolled them into balls, stuck in a lollypop stick, and let them sit overnight.
The next day, I made more melt and pour. I colored some 'caramel' with copper mica and cocoa powder, and some I colored dark brown with cocoa powder. I dunked the cake pops in the caramel melt and pour; once that had hardened, I drizzled the 'chocolate' melt and pour over it. I also added some coarse salt while the chocolate soap was soft. I also made some yellow melt and pour, and filled the two tart crusts and the Pavlovas. Here are ALL my creations!
The cupcakes turned out fine, I just was not happy that the strawberries bled onto the white frosting. I have no idea why- I used mica and oxide to color the melt and pour fondant that I used. I loved the way my coffee beans turned out!
I also sprinkled these with cocoa powder after I drizzled the white 'cream' on the brownie bites.
I made two 400 gram batches of soap to create these. I have no idea how much melt and pour I used, but it was less than half a one pound brick.
This was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I don't know that I'd be doing this very often- but it was a wonderful learning experience. Many thanks to Amy and Cee for this challenge!
