With the end of the school year, teacher appreciation and mother’s day, there are all sorts of opportunities to make something for people you care about. And I can’t think of anything more popular than bath bombs for small gift giving right now! We’ve stepped up the bath bomb a bit to make this Fizzy Vanilla Cupcake Bath Bomb Recipe that you can make at home.

I am not going to lie, it took a few tries to find just the right combination to make these…I’m going to explain a few of the pitfalls along the way for you, so yours can come out perfect the first time around. I’ve already made all the mistakes for you!

It goes without saying that little hands should be able to get involved in their gifts for mom and teachers. The kids can totally get involved in this craft project from measuring ingredients to squishing them all together.

As I just mentioned, in making this post, I actually had a few Pinterest fails trying to find a recipe that worked. (Gasp!) And I consider myself pretty accomplished at crafting and in the kitchen.

Just going to hang this first attempt out there…it was a regular Pinterest FAIL. I think my point of failure was with the water spray. Was also a tad humid that day, so my bath fizzies completely took on a life of their own. Thought for a minute I was going to have to whack them with the spatula to keep them from crawling across the kitchen.

So I tried again. The second one came out so crumbly, they were hard to handle let along package to give away.

Luckily, third time was the charm.

I didn’t give up completely on that first pretty cupcake idea, though. Once the bath fizzies came out of their molds, I tried out the royal icing “frosting” and it all set up just great and picture perfect.

Here’s how to make some sure-to-be appreciated Fizzy Cupcake Bath Bombs! Affiliate links ahead–they cost you nothing but help keep my content free!

Vanilla Fizzy Cupcake Bath Bomb Recipe

Makes 3 large round bombs or 7 cupcake bombs.

Bath Bomb Cake ingredients:

• 8 oz baking soda
• 4 oz citric acid (buy it here)
• 4 oz corn starch
• 4 oz Epsom Salts (buy it here)
• 2 ½ tablespoons coconut oil
• ¾ teaspoon water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 drops food coloring

Frosting ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons meringue powder (buy it here)
• 6 tablespoons warm water
• 1 lb powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step 1. Measure your cupcake bath bomb ingredients.

Yes, you’ll want to use a little kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients out. The good news about this is that kids are fascinated by this part and will be more than happy to measure the ingredients.

Get them off to a good start making the bombs by mixing together the baking soda, citric acid, corn starch and salts into a large GLASS (it’s non-reactive!) bowl to create the bath bomb base.

In a separate very small bowl, combine the coconut oil, water, vanilla extract and food coloring. Oil and water don’t mix very well, so don’t worry if they aren’t 100% combined.

Step 2: Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Here’s where this recipe needs your total attention: mixing the wet and the dry ingredients. The citric acid in the base fizzes up when it makes contact with water. You can see where there might be a problem combining the wet and the dry. Tell the kids they’re going to have to work really fast to get this project done!

Add one teaspoon of the wet ingredients to the dry at a time. You’ll have to work really quickly, and mix it around with your hands. Pinch at the little bits of stuck together pieces to get them to come apart.

If your mixture is bubbling up, you’re adding the wet to the dry too fast. When this happens, just be sure to mix the wet pieces to the non-reactive dry really fast and it should stop.

At the end, your mixture should feel a lot like slightly wet sand. It will stick together, but it’s going to be crumbly. Mold the fizzy bath bombs immediately after you’re done mixing—this doesn’t keep!

Step 3: Molding your fizzy cupcake bath bombs.

Bath bombs can take pretty much any shape you want. If you want to make cupcakes out of these, line each cup in a muffin pan with plastic wrap. Hard pack the bath bomb mix into each of the cups. I mean, really REALLY pack that stuff in there, pushing it down as hard as you can.

With this recipe, you only have to let them sit for about 10 minutes before you unmold them and let them dry for a few hours.

If you’re going to skip the frosting aspect of this recipe and do the traditional sphere shape, use the clear plastic ornaments that split into two you can find at the craft store (for less than $1) for molds.

Step 4: Making cupcake frosting.

Basically, what we’re going to do is make a royal icing frosting. The kind that you put on sugar cookies that gets really hard. Personally, I can take or leave the frosting when it comes to putting it in the bathtub, but it does make the presentation pretty.

In your mixing bowl, blend together the meringue powder and warm water until it’s frothy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. If the frosting is too stiff, add a teaspoon of water at a time until it’s a consistency you can pipe while still standing on its own.

I liked adding a few sprinkles on top to make them pretty. Let the frosting dry for a few hours before you attempt to wrap them up.

Step 5: Packaging!

A cellophane bag and a piece of ribbon is really all you need to wrap up these beauties.

If you want to get really fancy with your packaging, hop over  here and download these free “You’re the Bomb” printable tags!

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