A Deliciously Sweet Hot Process Soap Recipe With Orange

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So as you know, I’m a sucker for a good soap recipe. I’ve made a lot of cold process soap, which is kind of my go-to really. But I wanted to show you how hot process soap works, because there are a couple of advantages to HP recipes over CP soap.

It can take a little longer to master, but stick with it because you might actually prefer this method!

sweet orange hot process soap

Introduction

Hot process soap, also known as crockpot soap, will produce a wonderful, luscious soap that is infused with the gorgeous aroma of sweet orange essential oils. It smells so good I almost wanted to take a bite out of it, but don’t do that because that’s just crazy talk.

Sweet orange essential oil is one of the lowest costing essential oils on the market, so don’t worry too much about breaking the bank on a failure if this doesn’t work quite right the first time around. You absolutely can substitute it for fragrance oil if your prefer.

Making Hot Process Soap

Hot process soap can be a little trickier, mostly because you’ve gotta keep your eye on it. However, the main thing I love about it, is that it’s just so much quicker than cold process. There is no waiting 4 weeks for it to cure. Within a couple of days your gorgeous soap is ready to use or even gift!

The application of heat makes the difference here. Nevertheless, this means you’ve gotta keep a watch for up to an hour as it cooks in your crock pot. As I’ll discuss later, you can use a timer to make this a little easier on yourself.

It’s also much hotter and firmer when you pop it into the mold, so you’ve gotta be prepared to work even quicker and more carefully than you with cold process. It’s also worth mentioning that this soap can be a little soft for up to a week after you cut your slices. If this bothers you, make use of the sodium lactate to harden up your soap much faster.

I’ve estimated it can take you up to an hour and a half, maybe even 2 to get this recipe right. So make sure you’ve cleared your morning or afternoon schedules to accommodate for this. While this recipe doesn’t really require a crockpot, I find it’s just so much easier than doing it on the hob. These days they’re not really that expensive, and you can find one for a very reasonable price on online.

But let’s take a look at the ingredients and equipment you’ll need to whip up this fabulous crockpot soap.

Sweet Orange Hot Process Soap (HP)

Ingredients

ingredients you need to make orange hot process soap

Equipment

what you need to make hot process soap

Method

Step 1

Gather all your ingredients and equipment, taking the time now to weigh out everything you’ll need. It just makes everything so much easier later on when you need to work quickly.

This recipe has been calculated so that it works properly, so be quite strict with your measurements. Be especially strict with the amount of lye you’re using.

Step 2

Switch on your crock pot to a Low setting and place all of your oils into the pot. You want to leave this to melt (as coconut oil is a solid at room temperature).

To begin making this orange soap switch on your crock pot to a Low setting and place all of your oils and the butter into the pot.

Make sure to exclude your essential oils and the soap dye, we’ll be using this later on.

Step 3

water and sodium hydroxide

While your coconut oil melts into the rest of your oils, pour your sodium hydroxide into the water, creating your lye solution. Give it a bit of a stir so that it dissolves fully into the water. Never pour the water into the lye to minimize possible splashing.

pour your sodium hydroxide into the water, creating your lye solution

Wear your personal protective equipment for this step, just to be safe. You’ll either want to pop it outside or place near an open window to allow the fumes to ventilate.

lye solution for hot process soap

If you have kids about, make sure your little ones can’t get to this as even a little can burn intensely. If this is a concern, set them up in a different room with cartoons or coloring, far away from your crafting space. Better to be safe than sorry.

Step 4

Once your solid oils have melted, compare its temperature to the lye solution. While I find balancing is much less of a problem for the hot process soap method, you don’t want your lye solution to have completely cooled. aim for around 130 to 110f.

If you’re planning to use the Sodium Lactate, add it to the lye when it’s temperature drops below 130f and give it a good stir. This is the best way to get it into your soap.

Step 5

Once you’re ready, turn your crock pot off and pour a little of the lye into your oils and give it a stir. Make sure you’re wearing your personal protective equipment. If you see little or no reaction, go ahead and add the rest of the lye.

turn your crock pot off and pour a little of the lye into your oils and give it a stir.

Give the oil and lye solution a good mix with a spatula or spoon.

Give the oil and lye solution a good mix with a spatula or spoon.

Step 6

Now we need to get the batter to a light trace. While it’s possible to do this next step by hand, it’s much much easier and quicker to do this with a stick blender. You’ll want to blend your batter in short bursts, stirring each time you stop blending.

You'll want to blend your batter in short bursts, stirring each time you stop blending.

Keep going until you reach ‘trace’. You’ll know when you’re there when the consistency of the batter changes. You should be able to run a spatula across the top and it leaves a nice trace behind it, or if you pick some up with a spoon and let it drip back onto the surface of the batter it shouldn’t sink in straight away.

Keep going until you reach 'trace'. You'll know when you're there when the consistency of the batter changes. You should be able to run a spatula across the top and it leaves a nice trace behind it
Notice how the batter I’m dripping back into the pot doesn’t immediately sink into the rest of the batter

I’d say this process will take about 2-3 minutes, but this can vary depending on the temperature of the oils or even the temperature of the room you’re working in. So just watch for a change in consistency.

Step 7

Now that we’re at trace, we need to reapply the heat. Turn your crock pot back on and put it on a low setting. You’ll also need to pop the lid on so minimal heat can escape.

You’ll now want to leave your batter to ‘cook’ for anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour, stirring in intervals. I like to set my timer for 20 minute intervals, returning to stir it up when the buzzer goes. Make sure you’re wearing your glasses and gloves when you stir.

Don’t be alarmed if your soap better changes quite dramatically during this period. When you return to it, it’s totally normal for it to look a bit weird and foamy like it does in my picture below. Just stir the foam back into the batter and leave it for another 20 minutes.

Don't be alarmed if your soap better changes quite dramatically during this period. When you return to it, it's totally normal for it to look a bit weird and foamy.

After about 20 minutes to half an hour, your soap should begin to look a bit like apple sauce. I call this the apple sauce phase, as it really does look a bit like stewed apple. This is fine and totally normal, just give it a good stir, replace the lid and set the timer for another 10 to 20 mins.

After about 20 minutes to half an hour, your soap should begin to look a bit like apple sauce.

When your batter starts to look more translucent, almost like Vaseline, you’re pretty much done with the cooking stage, so turn off the heat and give it another stir. This is called the ‘gel phase’, which is a phase that your cold process soap would go through on its own, under all those towels and blankets over a 24 hour period.

When your batter starts to look more translucent, almost like vaseline, you're pretty much done with the cooking stage, this is called the 'gel phase'
Notice how the batter now looks more glossy than is did in the previous picture.

A good test to see if your soap is ready is to scoop out just a smidge and leave it to cool on a plate. After a minute, roll it between your fingers. If it feels greasy or leaves some kind of an oil trace, leave your batter for another 5-10 minutes to cook a little more and then test again.

When I made this recipe, it took about 50 minutes to get it to gel phase, but keep going for up to an hour if you need to. It is possible to burn the soap during this period, so make sure you keep your eye on it, or be strict with yourself when that 20 minute timer goes off.

When you’re not stirring, this is a perfect time to get on with any clean up that can be done, or even weigh out your essential oil or fragrance oil so you’re ready for the next few steps. If you won’t be using a silicon mold, also use this time to line your mold with some baking parchment.

Step 8

If you want to make use of a soap dye, now is the perfect time to mix it in. Add a few drops at a time and stir until you reach a desirable color. Remember that your soap will darked once it hardens in the mold, so be conservative with your dye.

Add a few drops of soap dye at a time and stir until you reach a desirable color.

Step 9

Now add your essential oil or fragrance oil, stirring well once you’ve poured it in. Make sure you do this relatively quickly, as the batter will continue to cook even though we’ve turned off the heat.

Now add your essential oil or fragrance oil, stirring well once you've poured it in.

Step 10

Now we need to get it into the mold, and work relatively quickly but also carefully. Pour your batter into your pre lined or silicon mold, being careful not to spill any. If your soap has gone a little bit over, you can use a spoon to shovel it into the mold.

Pour your batter into your pre lined or silicon mold, being careful not to spill any.

If your mixture isn’t particularly level, you can give it a bit of a bash to level it out some. You could also try using a spoon or spatula. I find it extremely difficult to get a smooth surface on hot process soap, and I’m definitely not alone in this.

If your mixture isn't particularly level, you can give it a bit of a bash to level it out some.

I tend to just embrace it and use a fork to make some interesting peaks. It makes the soap look wonderfully rustic, and also makes it look like you did it on purpose.

I tend to just embrace it and use a fork to make some interesting peaks.

Step 11

You’ll want to leave your soap for 24 hours to harden up in the mold. After this, remove it and leave for a couple more days, which should be long enough for the soap to dry out a bit. The last thing we want is a sloppy soap.

You'll want to leave your soap for 24 hours to harden up in the mold. After this, remove it and leave for a couple more days, which should be long enough for the soap to dry out a bit.

Step 12

And the final step is to cut your soap! You can use either a standard knife or a cool patterned cutter that is designed to give your soap an interesting texture. Either way, this soap should look great, smell amazing and feel absolutely fabulous on the skin!

the final step in out tutorial on how to make hot process soap is to cut it up! You can use either a standard knife or a cool patterned cutter that is designed to give your soap an interesting texture

Final Thoughts

While this method can be trickier than the standard cold process, I absolutely love how this soap turned out. You’ve just gotta keep your eye on it, and you should be absolutely fine. You might need to give this a few tries first before you’re more confident, but this is totally normal. I think I made this maybe 3 times before I got a good result.

Feel free to experiment with different ingredients. I definitely recommend making use of a lye calculator to make sure you get the quantity of water right, as that can make or break your soap.

Although the soap is safe to use a few days after making it, I  found that leaving it to cure for a week or two does result in harder milder bars.

This makes a perfect gift for a friend or loved one, but you can also use it just to spoil yourself. It’s quite a luxurious soap, and everyone needs a pampering from time to time.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my new homemade soap recipe! Give it a go yourself and let me know how you got on in the comments section below. Also share on social medias to spread the word that hot process soap is just as cool as cold process!

Discussion (6 Comments)

  1. Is there a substitute for the peach kernel oil? Its rather pricey & would need to buy 2 bottles for this soap. I have found that many recipes call for special oils that you would not have on a regular basis & its frustrating.

    Reply
    • Hi Sharon,

      Swapping out oils in a soap recipe is tricky business and nothing can be substituted like for like. If you’re interested in substituting or even designing your own soaps around the ingredients you like and can get hold of, take a look at our soap calculator. It’s one of the benefits of becoming a member of this blog. It will give you precise measurements for the lye and water, so that all of your oils can be fully saponified into soap.

      When you swap out one oil for another, the measurements of lye and water MUST change. This is because all oils are different and behave differently during saponification. If you swap out the peach kernel oil for say sweet almond oil, there is a chance your soap will be lye heavy (with possibility to irritate or burn skin) or it may not have enough lye and never becomes an actual soap at all.

      Hope this helps <3

      Reply
  2. Thank you so much for this. I’ve been meaning to try a d make soap due to allergic reactions in store bought soap, but I’m very scared. Sigh! But reading your blog makes me feel a bit encouraged to try. I went to the soap calc website but it was a bit overwhelming. In the part that it says the weight of oils, does that refer to the mold one would be using? Or each oil I would need to buy? I’m sorry if my question is a bit silly, but I’ve never tried to make soap?

    Reply
  3. I learned to make hot process first, so thanks for this recipe. I tend to add my essential oils at heavy trace so they’ll mix thoroughly. Once the soap hits gel phase, I find it more difficult to add ingredients. Anyway, looking forward to making this batch!

    Reply
  4. you mention butter in your first step, but butter is not an ingredient listed anywhere ? I have never made soap with butter, can you expain?

    Reply
    • Hi Nancy!

      Thanks for spotting my error. Often soap recipes can include a variety of different cosmetic butters. I must have confused myself while writing the post. Thanks again.

      P.s. I definitely recommend having a go using cosmetic butters, they really can leave your skin feeling amazing!

      Reply

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