Here’s Debbie with another super adorable SoapyLove project! When you’re done oohing and aahing over this tutorial, check out the totally rad soaps she taught at Soap Weekend Intensive 2012 using Bramble Berry’s neon colorants. -Anne-Marie
Search Results for: soap cupcakes
Neon Ambrosia Soap on Soap Queen TV
Quite possibly the cutest episode of Soap Queen TV… ever (although the piggies were REALLY cute). I had a great time making this video and creating these two projects. And, as you’ll see from the outtakes at the end, I had a really fun (slash dorky) time with the soap I made.
SWI Recap Day 2 – MP, Lotions, Scrubs and Cupcakes
Day 2 of SWI brought all of our wonderful guest instructors together! We invited Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove to teach us some fun melt and pour projects, Erin Pikor of Naiad Soap Arts taught her awesome array of scrubs, and Jill Heuser gave us the low-down on lotions. Get ready for lots of photos! First, we started of with a little bit of this guy.
SO in love.
A perfect pick-me-up first thing in the morning, Debbie’s projects incorporated Bramble Berry’s neon pigments for a super cool, 1980’s vibe. She used the SoapyLove Checkered Heart Mold with two variations, a psychedelic splatter soap and a neon checkered soap! Then, the SoapyLove I Heart Soap Mold done in super bright neons put a fun twist on a classic sentiment.
Radical!
Our Displays for the Soap Guild Conference
We have been hard at work on our Handcrafted Soapmaker’s Guild annual conference display for the last few months. First came the visioning and sketching process. We knew we couldn’t bring all of our products so we carefully planned out what we wanted to bring and then designed the displays around the products we wanted to showcase. It was hard figuring out what products made the cut (because, of course, they’re all our favorites).
Before we finalized the plans, we made the entire display as a mini model out of foam core boards. Our ratio was 1/2″ to 1 foot. We have the cutest little dollhouse display (that is, if you’re into staging retail stores instead of playing house). [Read more…]
Soap Queen Loves Dirty Laundry
“We” (meaning the royal “we” for all of Bramble Berry!) have been obsessed with Jeanee’s Dirty Laundry Blog for quite some time. I’m pretty sure the entire customer service and marketing team check in daily (including myself). Her posts are always cheeky, fun and inspirational, which is why we invited her back for a second time to be on the Bramble Berry S.O.A.P. testing team (a group selected to test new fragrance oils for Bramble Berry- read more about S.O.A.P. here). After testing the mystery fragrances in her mini bath bomb cupcakes, she was a dear and sent us a sample of each (sweet!). You shouldn’t have, Jeanee, but we’re so happy you did. My marketing team and I were like jungle animals, fighting to smell each bath bomb at the same time.
Super Sunday Soaping
Sunday was a completely hands on exercise in controlled chaos at Soap Weekend Intensive. While Saturday was all demonstration and lots of information flow (see blog post HERE), yesterday was all about the soap art and the playing!
We kicked off the day by cutting 2 of the Cold Process soap batches from yesterday. While we were scared to cut soap that was less than 1 day old, we only got a little bit of breakage and drag tearing. The soaps both turned out extraordinarily beautiful.
Stupendous Session of Soaping
The first official day of Soap Weekend Intensive was today and it did not disappoint. Dare I say that it was the best SWI yet?! (See SWI blog posts from the past…SWI 2008, SWI 2009and SWI 2010.)We had a record 21 students this year and rented a building within walking distance to Otion. We had extra assistants on hands because we wanted to make sure that each and every student had lots of opportunities to learn and ask questions from our fully-trained soapmaking ninjas.
Soap Weekend Intensive Prep with Kristy
Today marks the 2 day countdown to Soap Weekend Intensive 2011. Eek! We’re running around the warehouse working on the finishing touches to make this a soaping weekend to remember. And I’m picking the cutest outfits for Jamisen to wear when he makes his guest appearances.
Kristy, from Kristy’s Lovely Lathers, and her husband Bruce flew into Seattle last night. After many emails and phone calls over the last few months, it’s so nice to finally meet them!
Amber was Kristy’s soaping assistant today.
We all had takeout last night from the best local Italian cafe, Mambo Italiano and got caught up on their life in Ohio. They’re both really into Harley Davidson and luckily we have a Harley Davidson store here, in downtown Bellingham. Guess where Bruce was first thing this morning? You guessed it! Bruce is such a perfect match with Kristy. You can tell he’s Kristy’s number one fan. And, he’s super generous with his time too. He even offered to mow our lawn (and now, my husband is his biggest fan!). I was tempted but politely turned him down. I wouldn’t dream of putting him to work on his vacation.
Playing with the BB Neon Colorants…so bright!
Today, Kristy’s here in the BB Soap Lab prepping for her Saturday class. She is such a talented artist, er, soaper. It’s hard to distinguish where the soap science ends and the art begins. Her soaps are so stunning I’d like to just keep one in my bathroom as art to impress guests. It’s such a treat to watch her in her element and create these insane masterpieces which we call soap. And did I mention she came to the warehouse bearing gifts? Too many gifts and for my entire marketing team included! She even brought gifts for little Jamisen. It was an eventful morning full of squeals, oohs, ahhs and a ton of laughing. If this morning was any indication, I have a feeling this is going to be the best SWI event to date!
Kristy’s jaw-dropping soap.
Read Kristy’s full bio HERE and see SWI blog posts from the past…SWI 2008, SWI 2009 and SWI 2010.
Red Velvet Cupcakes: Recipe no. 5
I was thrilled to see these cupcakes flying off the stand at my wedding reception despite the fact that they are gluten, dairy, soy and egg free. Due to my many food sensitivities I have taken up the hobby of converting some of my favorite recipes into tasty treats that won’t harm my body. After four failed attempts I was able to modify the fifth attempt at these Red Velvet Cupcakes (Recipe no. 5) into something that was worthy of serving to my guests. Thank you to all of my taste testers who gave feedback on the first four trys!
NOTE: Please read the entire recipe through before you start and be sure to follow the method exactly for best results.
Hope you enjoy these! –erin
Lemon Cupcakes for Leah
Happy Bramble’versary, Leah. You’re a customer service ninja!
Thank you, Kate, from Our Best Bites for the DELICIOUS recipe. Leah in customer service loved her zesty bramble’versary cupcakes (and the rest of the staff gobbled the last of the cupcakes in no time). See Kate’s recipe below!
Welcome to the NEW Soap Queen!
Welcome to the new Soap Queen Blog. We are thrilled to share a happy new layout and easy-to-search categories for your convenience.
Camouflaging the Bump with Cupcakes?
Bringing Soap Ropes back in a big way! |
Loofah Fun! |
Candy Cane Cupcakes
Wondering what to do with all of your leftover candy canes? Fear not, I have a solution! Candy Cane Cupcakes!
Now, mine are filled with a blue White Chocolate Ganache because that’s what I used to surprise my family with the sex of our baby (missed that post? It’s here). If it were me, I would skip the ganache for ‘normal’ cupcakes. It was just too much sweetness in one cupcake. But if you’re absolutely dying for the ganache recipe, just ask me for it in the comments section.
Vanilla-Peppermint Cupcake Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp. baking powder
* 1/4 tsp. coarse salt
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
* 1 tsp. peppermint extract
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 large egg , room temperature
* 2 large egg whites
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line the cupcake pan with adorable cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients together. Sift if you must but I always skip that step.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the milk and extracts together. Set aside.
4. In yet another bowl (yes, I am trying to give you a mountain of dishes to wash. Sorry ’bout that), cream the butter. This involves beating the butter until it’s light and fluffy. Normally, this takes around 3ish minutes. After the butter is creamed, start to add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until it’s all in and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs to the sugar/butter mixture and beat on medium.
6. Drop the mixer speed to low and beat in 1/2 of the dry mixture. Now, beat in 1/2 of the wet mixture. Dump the rest of the dry in and the rest of the wet. Mix until just blended.
7. Spoon batter into cupcake tins, filling 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Do not overbake. I did and they were a wee bit dry.
Vanilla-Peppermint Frosting:
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/8 tsp. salt
* 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
* 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
* 1/2 tsp. milk
Crushed Peppermint Candy Canes (I used a rolling pin to crush. It was a labor of patient love). I used at least 8 candy canes.
1. Cream the butter and salt (medium speed for about 3 minutes) until light and fluffy.
2. Reduce speed to low and add in the rest of the ingredients.
3. When cupcakes are cooled, frost the cupcakes.
4. Once the frosting is as smooth as possible, take a paintbrush and put into warm water. Paint the cupcakes smooth (or as smooth as you can get it.)
5. Put the crushed candy canes into a bowl and dip your wet, smooth cupcakes into the crushed candy canes until the cupcake is covered nicely with the crushed candy canes.
Store these in an airtight container. Leaving out in the open causes the candy canes to weep and melt.
Even niece dog Samantha wanted in on the cupcake action; the frosting is that good!
Sadly, cupcakes aren’t for doggies so we got the pouty sad look. Don’t feel bad for Samantha; we did give her a dog bone. =)
Dirty Laundry or Awfully Sweet Cupcakes?
Jeanee, from Dirty Laundry, is such a dear. She was part Bramble Berry’s first SOAP testing panel and tested a bunch of potential new fragrances in her adorable line of cupcake bath fizzies. She was kind enough to send us some some of her samples. And I’m so thankful she saved them for us – they flew off the shelf at her last craft show. Of course, having seen them, we’re not surprised. They’re so cute that they rival puppy dogs and unicorns.