Candy canes are a Christmas classic! Their sweet peppermint flavour and colourful stripes are recognisable around the world.
If you love these nostalgic treats as much as we do, you’ll love this scented candy cane candle recipe!
Not only does it fill a room with a fresh peppermint scent, but the candles also add a touch of homemade Christmas decoration.
This candle is 100% natural, as we are using natural wax, natural colourants and natural essential oils!
Let’s have a go at our candy cane candle recipe…
Equipment:
- Digital scales
- Digital thermometer
- Saucepan/ slow cooker
- Silicone spatula/ spoon
- Heatproof container
- Plastic measuring jugs
- Glass candle container/ mason jar
- Pre waxed candle wicks
- Wick stickers
- Wick holder
- Cheese cloth/ filter paper
- String (or something you can tie with)
Ingredients:
- Soy wax 300g
- Alkanet root 25g
- Peppermint essential oil 18g
1. Prepare your container
- Prepare your candle container, making sure to secure the wick.
- Place a wick sticker on the bottom of your wick and place it to the bottom of the container.
- Lay the wick holder on the top of your container, with the wick in the centre hole.
2. Prepare your natural colourant
- Using a small square of cheese cloth, pour the alkanet root into the centre.
- Gather all of the edges together and tie it tightly to secure the colourant in the pouch.
- Tie a pencil or wick holder, to the remaining amount of cloth. This will help hold the pouch in the wax.
3. Melt the soy wax
- Weigh half of the soy wax into a heatproof container and the other half into another heatproof container.
- Place both of the containers in a saucepan with hot water to melt the wax or fill a slow cooker with some water and place your container in the heated water.
4. Infuse the wax
- Make sure the melted wax is around 60°C, then sit your pouch of alkanet into one of the containers of wax and place a lid on top.
- Leave this to infuse into the wax, making sure to keep the wax at 60°C. We infused our wax for 7 hours and it made a beautiful pink colour.
- You can infuse the wax for up to 24 hours. The longer you infuse the wax, the stronger the colour will be. If you want to heat it for longer than 8 - 12 hours, we would recommend using a slow cooker so you can heat the wax for a full 24 hours.
5. Add the essential oils
- Measure the essential oils in a separate bowl.
- Once the wax has been infused, remove the cloth with the natural colourant.
- Leave the containers of wax in your hot water, but reduce the temperature to around 40°C.
- Test the temperature of your soy wax. Once it reaches 57°C, add the essential oils to each container of wax.
- Mix the wax and essential oils together to combine the mixtures.
6. Pour into your candle container
- Once the waxes have reached 40°C we can start pouring.
- First, pour the red infused wax into the bottom of the candle container to fill about 1cm. Then place the container back in the hot water to stop it from solidifying.
- Leave the first layer of the candle to solidify, then pour the clear wax on top to fill another 1cm. Put the clear wax back in the warm water to keep it liquid.
- Repeat this process until you have used all of the wax and created a candy cane stripe!
- Leave the candle to set for 2 weeks and trim the wick to about ½ an inch.
Test the candle by burning it for around 4 hours (you want the candle to melt to the edges)
TIP: Some of the wax may reduce during the infusion and as you cool the wax for pouring, which is why we are using 300g of wax for our 250g container. When creating the stripes, make sure to wait for each layer to fully solidify, otherwise the layers will mix together!
Continue Reading
Now you know how to make your own festive candle, why not continue reading?
- Try more candle making, with our beeswax candle recipe!
- Want to make more festive creations? Make your own snowflake soap bar with our melt and pour soap recipe!
- Be ready for the Christmas rush and get your orders in soon! Check when our last order dates before Christmas are here.
How did you find this candy cane candle recipe? Let us know in the comments!
