DIY Sink and Potty Cakes

This past Christmas I decided to go full DIY on gifts for all the adults in my life, testing my limits of procrastination, ended up eliminating six of the eight projects I had “committed” to, and instead got a bit tipsy making homemade Bailey's liquor and Lush-like bath bombs. I have never made bath bombs before, it reminded me of working with crumbly pie dough. Fun. It took a few rounds to get the bombs, well round, and in the end I decided to call my lovely gifts “Smash Bombs” and package them in jars instead of Bath Bombs, get it? ;) Okay, so I'm not ready for bath bombs, let's start smaller. 

P.S. The Bailey's went over oh-so awesomely...As expected.

Well, they smelled lovely and the effect is the same once it hits water. Having still quite a bit of citric acid left, I went on a Pinterest search for other uses for it. To my surprise, citric acid is a fantastic base ingredient for a number of practical DIY home uses. Citric acid is a low-strength natural acid derived from citrus fruit and is a key ingredients in many household cleansers (i.e.  Laundry and dishwasher detergent, bathroom scrubs, toilet bowl cleaners and surface sprays). When I found Maria’s blog about her Toilet Bombs, I had to give it a try!

Can be bought here on Ebay

I adjusted the ingredient ratios and the scent, this is a very flexible recipe, more citric acid more fizz, Maria's original recipe called for 1 1/3 C. Baking Soda and 1/2 C. Citric Acid; I wanted a little more fizz in my cakes.

Sink & Potty Cakes Recipe

Makes approximately 20, but depends on size of mold used)

1 Cup Citric Acid

1 Cup Baking Soda

80 drops of essential oil (I chose Bergamot, Orange, Lemon and Rosemary)

1 tsp Food Coloring (optional and can add less/more per preference)

4 Tbs Witch Hazel (or vodka)

You will need:

Painters or Surgical Mask

Bowl, Measuring Cup, Fork for mixing

Small Spray Bottle

Directions:

Combine citric acid and baking soda in a bowl, keep your nose and mouth covered while you’re mixing the powdered ingredients as the fine particles can be easily inhaled. 

After mixing the citric acid and baking soda evenly, combine essential oils, food coloring (optional) and witch hazel in spray bottle, shake well. The combination of oils I chose result in a fresh, sunny and clean smell, perfect for either the bathroom or kitchen, but you can experiment with what you like, many oils contain antibacterial and antiviral properties of their own that will add to the power of your little cleaning bombs. I also added some homemade orange tincture that I had made about three weeks ago and smells wonderful! 

Spritz the powdered mixture little by little, stirring all the while (I like to use my hands, a fork works nicely too) to avoid causing the mixture to overreact (chemically, not emotionally). Keep spritzing until your mixture is the consistency of damp sand, too dry and you can’t sculpt them, but too wet will lose the “bomb.”

Press your mixture firmly into molds, muffin tins, silicone molds, Styrofoam egg cartons, you can get creative, I made some in shot glasses. J If you’re using a plastic mold, just know essential oils will leach into the plastic making it smell like your essential oils for a very long time.

Now the waiting begins, if you live in a dry climate, like me (0-20% humidity) these babies will dry in just a couple of hours, although, I still let them sit out of the mold to cure for an additional couple of hours. For soggy climates, you speed up drying process by putting these in a warm oven (turned off and mostly cooled) for a bit, or in a food dehydrator (again, the oils may leave a residual smell).

I keep a decorated mason jar full of these gems on the household toilets to toss in the bowl in between cleanings. I also keep one on my kitchen sink and toss in the garbage disposal to keep it fresh and disinfect. Wet a sponge, lay cake on sponge and scrub the inside of sinks, showers and tubs.

These last indefinitely, and make a cute statement in bathrooms, the kids love to watch them spin and fizz in the toilet bowl. I love these so much, I recently starting selling them in my Etsy store here.

What smells remind you of clean? Share your favorite essential oil blends!