Bath bombs by Hansells Recipes
Cakes and Tarts
Serves: 1
Ingredients:
Rosewater is available from the supermarket. It can be used like an essence to flavour desserts and sweets. It is particularly good as an addition to meringue mixtures. As a rule of thumb, if your choice of fragrance is safe to eat, it is safe to use in a bath bomb.
400g Hansells Baking Soda
140g Hansells Citric Acid
1/2 teaspoon Hansells Pink Food Colouring
2 teaspoons rosewater
Method:
Mix the baking soda and citric acid together in a bowl until well combined. Make a well in the centre. In a small bowl, mix the pink food colouring and rosewater together. Pour this into the baking soda mixture and mix quickly with a wooden spoon then with your fingertips to work the colour evenly through the baking soda mixture. The mixture will fizz so work quickly to reduce the fizzing. Press the mixture firmly into cupcake cases or other moulds of your choice. The mixture will fizz up a little so don’t fill the mould to the top to allow room for rising. Leave the bombs to dry before removing from moulds. Leave in the cupcake cases. Wrap in cellophane.
Makes 2 cups of bath bomb mixture
TIPS
- Dried rose petals can be added to the bath bombs. To dry rose petals, leave on a tray in the sun, in a warm dry place like an airing cupboard or dry in the microwave on high power. The time taken will depend on how many petals you have so start low at say 20 seconds and add in 20 second amounts until the petals are dry.
- Other dried flowers can be used but make sure they are edible flowers as these will be going into the bath and this is a good way to make sure the flowers will not irritate the skin. Lavender is always a good option The bomb can be coloured with red and blue food colouring to make a lavender colour.
- Baking soda produces carbon dioxide when mixed with and liquid acid. When the bath bomb is put into bath water, the citric acid and water react with the baking soda and this is what causes the bath bomb to fizz. It is this basic science that makes a cake rise when acid from say golden syrup is mixed with baking soda. Carbon dioxide gas is produced and this makes the cake rise.
- Other fragrances can be used when making bath bombs. The most important thing to do when choosing a fragrance is to make sure it is safe to use on your body. Oils can be used but these are usually expensive making safe fragrances like rosewater and orange flower water a more economical for your bath bombs.
