Silicone Molds: Selecting, Cooking and Baking With

[Wholemeal Crank]

I would like to skip the greasing, but have had trouble with releasing if I don't do the bottoms of my muffin tins....and of course the bundt shapes, small and large, have been a mess.

Besides using or not using a releasing agent of whatever type, and perhaps the oven temp (maybe it should be moved up a bit for the silicone, like dropping it 25 degrees for baking in glass?), are there other basic factors I should be considering towards a cleaner release?

[fiftydollars]

Speaking of silicone...

Does anyone else have difficutly getting odors out of silicone?

I have a few spatulas that I have used in strongly flavored savory preparations and I can't seem to get the smell out.

I have tried soaking in hot soapy water, bleach, etc... but the smells often linger.

I have started keeping my silicone spatulas for pastry work separate from those used for savory cooking because I can't seem to get the silicone from retaining smells.

I soaked them in denture cleaner and it seemed to work only somewhat. The garlic odor was replaced by a mint-like scent... but only briefly. I tried baking soda, but it was not particularly effective. I tried baking soda and hours sunlight... it worked ok, but it wasn't the type of solution I would like for an item I use so often.

Any ideas on how to get the stink out?

[yslee]

My Silpat retains odours, too. At first, I thought it was defective but the store I bought it from had it tested at head office (don't know what that entailed) and they said it was perfectly fine. I now use something called "The Original Bake-O-Glide Multigrade", which is a lot thinner, slicker, not sticky/greasy feeling, can be used at slightly higher temperatures, and can be cut to size. It claims to have a 100% PTFE coating (not that I know what that is).

But I still haven't worked out what to do with my silicone spatulas, apart from designating them savoury and sweet. Just like cutting boards, right?

[Wholemeal Crank]

PFTE is teflon, so it makes sense that things linger less on those sheets.

[meredithla]

What is your experience using the silicone cake pan liners vs. parchment? Does the bottom of the cake brown differently? Will I get the same results as with parchment? I've always used the parchment liners but am considering buying the silicone.

Thanks!

[miladyinsanity]

Are you talking about silicone pan liners or silicone-coated paper pan liners?

[meredithla]

Are you talking about silicone pan liners or silicone-coated paper pan liners?

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The silicone pan liners which appear to be similar to a silpat--only round. Like these:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/601-5...asin=B0000CFFKR

[miladyinsanity]

I've seen these at my baking supplies shop, not for cake pans, but for sheet pans.

I'm also interested in finding out whether anybody uses them. Sorry I can't help, meredithla.

[Squirrelly Cakes]

Hi there,

Well I cannot tell by looking at the picture, if they are similar to silpat, but I am curious as to their purpose. Silpat in addition to providing a non-stick surface also stops, say cookies from browning too much on the bottom as it provides an extra bit of insulation. Don't know about you, but the bottom browning or over-cooking of a cake's bottom is not an issue for me. As far as non-stick issues, I would rather have the silicone treated parchment paper or even use waxed paper as I can just throw it out. So the only advantage I can see is you don't have to cut them to fit the bottom of the pan. But they seem to me to be a bit of a waste of money just for that. Perhaps too, in a cheaper quality cake pan that is not very heavy, they may help improve the baking to the underneath. Might also be handy when making a cheesecake that you want to remove from the pan.

Haha, and having said all that, I haven't used them so I cannot really comment on that. But from a practical point of view, I cannot see that the cost is justified for most purposes. Just my opinion though!

Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Edited July 25, 2006 by Squirrelly Cakes (log)

[meredithla]

My thought was if they work just as well as parchment I'd love to save the time of cutting the parchment circles and the expense of buying the pre-cut parchment circles. Leading one to wonder...could I possibly be the laziest cake baker on eG?!

Perhaps the lack of replies means either a) they don't work well or b)no one has tried them yet?

[Squirrelly Cakes]

Haha, well I think you may be right and I would be leaning more to folks not having tried them yet as I haven't seen them around ! My only concern would be the fact that the silpats do have an insulating factor, so the bottom of the cake may take a bit longer to bake or set. But it would be likely no more of an issue than adjusting baking time. The only time I can see that being anything major would be with a thin torte type of cake. It might not bake up quite the same.

Well you know, the time you spend cutting the circles will be cut in half, washing the silpat.

I have a friend that keeps a dedicated rotary cutter and cutting board just for that purpose. I would imagine it is quite quick but I prefer to suffer through the scissors and cutting "inside the line" practice, haha!

Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

[StephMac]

I have a set! They're for 9" rounds, and I like them... so far. I've only used them once, so I can't offer a fully-tested opinion yet.

I baked a regular yellow cake with liners similar to these at iKitchen.com, and they certainly served the non-stick purpose fine, although I believe I let the cakes cool in the pan a smidge too long: when I flipped the cakes onto a cooling rack and went to peel off the liners, I did get some pieces of cake-bottom stuck to them. Nothing major, and the spots were easily evened out with icing.

I didn't notice any unusual browning or non-browning, but these silicone liners are rather thick, so it wouldn't surprise me if they delay heat transfer somewhat. The thinner, brown liners (like these from Chef's Resource)might make for faster heating?

I usually use parchment rounds, and the liners did save me quite a bit of time in cutting out the circles, etc. I haven't baked with the liners since, so I don't know if my sticking problem was due to the cake cooling in the pan too long, or if it was simply because it was the first time I'd used the liners, or if maybe I should give them a quick swipe of baker's grease or other non-stick coating. Once it cools down enough to consider turning on the oven, I'll begin my experiments... I've got a red velvet cake due at the county fair in a couple of weeks

The liners were, however, exceptionally easy to clean up: wash, rinse, dry. Yay!

[freddurf]

I have them too, but mine are black. I love them! I'm by no means a professional baker so for what it's worth I haven't noticed any difference when baking with them. I bought them for my 8 inch pans so I could test them out. I loved them, so I went back to the store and got them for all of my pans and cut them to size. I was lucky enough to get them on sale. They cost more than the parchment circles, but in the long run it will be worth it in time and money.

[meredithla]

Thank you! I think I'll get some and try them out.

[cookman]

This post is directed to anyone who has baked in silicone pans. I taste a chemical residue in the bake goods whenever I bake something in a silicone pan. I have baked several different chocolate cakes in a French-made Flexipan, and, every time I do, I detect an unpleasant chemical taste in the final product. I think I can also detect an off taste when I bake cookies on Silpats.

Am I the only one who finds that cooking in silicone pans leaves behind a detectable taste?

[highchef]

I cannot answer that, but I do appreciate the post as I've been looking at the pans and was debating getting some. I'll hold off until I learn more. I really don't need the darn things anyway.

edit: I don't detect any off taste from the silpat's, but the pans I looked at (star bundt, mini bundt's) did have an odor to them that was distinctly chemical. Since your smell/taste senses work together you might be tasting the smell. I know that probably does not make any sense at all (pun intended), and science is not one of my special talents, but somehow my mind has made this connection! I know there are smarter people out there that know for sure.

Edited October 29, 2006 by highchef (log)

[Patrick S]

I use Mafter exopats, and have never detected any taste from it.

[duckduck]

I have some pans that I can taste and some that I can't. Don't know the difference other than probably different manufacturers.

[bibbotson]

There are so many different brands of silicone pans, mats, etc. these days and I don't believe there is much consistency between them in terms of the types of silicone, what they were cured with, etc.

I've never had taste issues with traditional silpats (whether from Demarle, or exopats from Matfer, etc.).

However, my wife bought a set of ice-cube trays made of silicone from Bed Bath and Beyond, and I can't drink anything these cubes end up in. A distinct chemical taste that I recognize as exactly the taste of water drunk from our cheap green plastic 5-and-dime waterguns when I was a kid. It seems the same feel and consistency of silicone as that showing up in pie plates, cake pans, etc. for low cost at mega-home stores.

[Live It Up]

I don't own any silicone pans yet, but I sell the silicone zone ones in my store, as well as their baking mats which I have been using for years. One of the things their reps made sure to tell me is that they don't use any fillers--indicating that other companies do use fillers, I suppose. So perhaps that what you're tasting: the fillers? It's really just a guess. I can see some of these products finding their way to my kitchen soon, so I might have more concrete evidence later.

[McAuliflower]

I don't own any silicone pans yet, but I sell the silicone zone ones in my store, as well as their baking mats which I have been using for years. One of the things their reps made sure to tell me is that they don't use any fillers--indicating that other companies do use fillers, I suppose. So perhaps that what you're tasting: the fillers? It's really just a guess. I can see some of these products finding their way to my kitchen soon, so I might have more concrete evidence later.

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What the heck are fillers?

Some education from the company rep about what "fillers" are would be good.

I would think it would be plasticizers that you'd be tasting- the things that keep the silicone flexible.

[K8memphis]

I know that our Dinstuhl's famous cashew crunch candy, native to Memphis, was made with a brand shiny new state of the art rolling pin, teflon or whatever and they noticed a change in the taste of the candy so they went back to the old wooden unstate of the art one they had used since the beginning of Dinstuhl cashew crunch time. I love that story.

And besides that, I have a few silicone pans & things. The ones I have make poor poor muffins. There's no carmelization--it's all mush, no crust--ick. Makes great tart crust but just say no to muffins. C'mon, they make muffin top pans so there's more crunchy stuff. Nobody's marketing muffin inerd pans.

Are there any that bake a nice crust on things?? Not like a french bread crust but y'know what I mean.

[Chihiran]

I love my Demarle silicon sheets and my silicon bundt pan from Bloomingdales. I don't remember the brand, but it's a very bright pink.

[SweetSide]

...

Nobody's marketing muffin inerd pans. 

Are there any that bake a nice crust on things?? Not like a french bread crust but y'know what I mean.

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I have a disdain for silicone pans for general things. I've used only a few and was never happy with them. The best results I've had was for molding demispheres of mousse or baby savarin rings of sorbet. And those were in Demarle pans that didn't "smell funny".

I do love my Silpat though.... Dinstuhl cashew crunch story or no...

[birder53]

Not being a baker, most of the concerns here do not concern me. However, I have purchased a silicone covered whisk and spatula. Is silicone the new teflon as far as leaching into our food?