Elderflower Soap Recipe (Cold Process)
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Natural cold-process elderflower soap recipe and instructions featuring an elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend. This recipe is from Jan Berry and features in her second book, Simple & Natural Soap Making.
This natural elderflower soap recipe features elderflowers, an old-fashioned home remedy for softer skin, along with lavender essential oil for a relaxing scent. They are available to pick fresh in late spring, but you can also use dried elderflowers to make it. The first step is to make elderflower tea and let it cool. This tea is then used in place of distilled water to prepare the lye solution.
The rest of the recipe is very simple and follows standard cold process soapmaking steps. There is no additional soap colorant in the recipe, and the creamy color of the finished soap comes from the main oils used and the elderflower tea. Though there isn’t a natural elderflower fragrance available, the recipe provides a beautiful floral essential oil blend. It is optional, though, so feel free to leave the essential oils out of your soap if you wish.
Make Elderflower Tea
Before you make this recipe, you’ll first need to make elderflower tea. To do so, place about ½ cup fresh elderflowers (or 2 tbsp dried) in a heat-proof cup or container. Cover with 269 g (9.5 oz) simmering hot water. Let steep for about 30 minutes, then strain and cool completely. Weigh out 255 g (9 oz) for the recipe, adding distilled water as needed to reach the correct weight.
More Soapmaking Inspiration
Before we get to the recipe, I’d like to let you know that you can find plenty more elderflower ideas and cold process soap recipes on Lovely Greens. Here’s a selection that you might like.
- Chamomile Soap Recipe
- Elderflower Champagne Recipe
- Plants, Flowers, and Herbs to Use in Skincare Recipes
Elderflower Soap Recipe
Equipment
Materials
Lye Solution
- 112 g sodium hydroxide 3.95 oz
- 255 g elderflower tea cooled / 9 oz
Solid Oils
- 227 g coconut oil (refined) 8 oz
- 99 g cocoa butter refined is preferable / 3.5 oz
Liquid Oils
- 298 g extra virgin olive oil 10.5 oz
- 128 g sunflower oil high-oleic is preferable / 4.5 oz
- 43 g castor oil 1.5 oz
Add at Trace
- 5 tsp lavender essential oil 22 g
- 2.25 tsp bergamot essential oil optional / 10 g
- 1 tsp rosemary essential oil optional / 4 g
Instructions
Make the Lye Solution
- Wearing protective gloves and eye-wear, carefully stir the lye (sodium hydroxide) into the cool elderflower tea until dissolved. Work in a well-ventilated area and be careful not to inhale the fumes. Set the lye solution aside to cool for about 30 or 40 minutes or until the temperature drops to around 100 to 110°F (38 to 43°C).
Prepare the Oils
- Gently heat the coconut oil and cocoa butter on low heat until melted. When the solid oils are melted, take the pan off the heat and pour in the liquid oils. This helps cool down the melted oils while warming up the room temperature oils.
Mixing
- Pour the cooled lye solution into the warmed oils. Using a combination of hand stirring and an immersion blender (stick blender), stir the soap batter until it thickens and reaches trace.
Add the Essential Oils
- When the soap batter has thickened to the consistency of warm custard, stir in the essential oil(s) for scent.
Pour in Mold
- Pour the soap batter into your soap mold. Cover lightly with wax or freezer paper, then a towel or light blanket. Peek at the soap every so often; if it starts developing a crack, uncover and move to a cooler location.
Cut and Cure
- Keep the soap in the mold for 1 to 2 days, or until it’s easy to remove, then slice it into bars when it’s firm enough not to stick to your cutting tool. Cure on coated cooling racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4 weeks before using. The soap is safe to touch 48 hours after making it, but it needs extra time for the excess moisture to evaporate. For full instructions on how to cure handmade soap.
Notes
- Cocoa butter helps add hardness to palm-free soap recipes like this one; if you don’t have any, try using kokum butter, tallow, or lard for a similar effect. Shea butter could also work well.
- If you wish to replace the sunflower oil, try using sweet almond or rice bran oil instead.
- If you don’t have bergamot and rosemary essential oils to create the suggested scent blend, you can replace them with more lavender essential oil.
Hi Tanya!
It’s such a treat watching your videos and following along with the soaping instructional recipes! They are so easy to follow along and especially therapeutic!
Crafting is a thrill! Thank you for thoughtfully sharing as you do!
You are much welcome, Leah :)
Hi Tanya,
I notice that most of your recipes include 2x and 3x the ingredients to make larger batches for a larger mould. I have quite a large mould and your 3x recipes work wonderfully. Just wondering if it would be possible to add the 2x and 3x ingredient list to this recipe. Thank you so much for another wonderful recipe!
Lisa
Hi Lis, I’m slowly working through my soap recipes and importing the recipe information into the recipe card format. In the meantime, all you need to do is double or triple the amounts of each ingredient to make a 2x or 3x batch :)
Hi!. First and foremost, thank you for sharing. Lovely site and content. Now I have a question: the water in my area is super hard, would be better to infuse the flowers in distilled water, or just ignore the fact?
Hi Lau, when making handmade soap anywhere in the world, it’s best to use distilled water. Minerals such as in hard water or mineral water, along with material in water from pipes and sediments in well water can cause issues. Sometimes issues with lathering, but more often than not, issues with shelf-life. Using water other than distilled water in many cases leads to soap developing DOS – a type of unsightly and musty smelling rancidification.
Hi can I replace the castor oil with extra of one of the other oils? Thanks
The castor oil is an important ingredient in this recipe since it helps to sustain the lather. Here’s more on changing and customizing a soap recipe.
Can I add color in powder (purple) to this recipe?
Of course and I suspect that you mean Ultramarine Violet (a mineral pigment)? If so, you’re welcome to use the usage rate found in this recipe.
I make goat milk soap, but I want to use the elderflowers, is that possible? Can I make a tea out of the goat milk?
Thanks,
Jo
Just to be clear about the elderflowers in this recipe — they will not scent the soap. You could infuse them into your goat milk beforehand if you wish to use them though.
Hello. I followed the recipe, but even after three days in the mold my soap was quite soft. I managed to cut it, but it had this brie cheese texture, which felt wrong. It was getting stuck to the knife all the time. What could it be due? Thank you.
Hi Dina, I expect that you didn’t bring the soap to a full trace before pouring it into the mold. Mix it a little longer next time so that the oils and lye get enough time to interact before pouring. Good luck :)
Hey any replacement of elderflower tea? Because I didn’t get it in my areas..
kindly reply me if any replacement is available..
If you wanted to, you can skip the elderflower tea and use an equal amount of distilled water instead.
Is the amount listed for essential oils correct? It seams to be a lot.
It is correct. You need quite a lot of essential oil to make scented soap — generally, 3% of the recipe but some soapmakers use a little more.
Hi Tanya
I just wanted to say I am really enjoying your website and all the inspiring information and beautiful pictures! I am looking forward to trying the elderflower soap but will have to wait a while as we are opposite your seasons here in New Zealand!
Thanks for sharing!
How do I make the elderflower tea please ?
Hi Irene, the instructions are in the first paragraph :)
can the water be replaced with frozen goats milk in ALL your recipes? wish you had a “print” button for your website recipes.