A Simple Cream

This is an incredibly simple recipe for a basic cream. Once you have mastered this, and trust me it isn’t rocket science, you can adapt it to your own needs by mixing and matching it with other ingredients.

 250ml warm water (you could swap this for any herbal decoction or infusion you like)

 2 tsp beeswax

 6 tsp emulsifying wax

 40ml sunflower oil (you can experiment with other oils such as almond, olive, etc, or even use oils infused with herbs)

 2 tsp vitamin C powder (optional)

 6–12 drops whichever essential oil takes your fancy (optional)

1 Combine the beeswax, emulsifying wax and oil together in a pan and heat very gently until the waxes fully dissolve.

2 Pour the warm water in a thin stream into the oil and wax mixture, whisking vigorously all the time. You should see an instant colour change as the mix turns creamy white. Don’t panic however if it looks a little thin textured, this will thicken significantly as it cools. Although very simple to get right, this is the single most important stage of making a cream. If you simply bung in all the water in one go, or don’t whisk the mixture well enough as you are adding it, the two liquids will not combine to form the smooth emulsion you are looking for. Slow pouring and vigorous whisking are key.

3 Stir in the vitamin C powder (which acts as a natural preservative) and essential oils if desired, and bottle up in clean screw-top jars.

USE Apply the cream liberally wherever you feel the need.

STORAGE Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.

james’s tip I always liken making creams to the ordering a drink at high-street coffee chains, where you can have your latte non-fat, with an extra shot of espresso, a dash of hazelnut syrup, despite us all knowing it’s basically just coffee. Well in the same way you could add a couple of drops of whichever essential oil you fancy to adapt its smell, infuse either the water or oil component (or both) with herbs to give it an extra kick, and even try out different base oils – the sky is the limit!

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