Silicone Bakeware, Any Experiences?

I saw a good deal on silicone bakeware... muffins, cake, bread vessels etc...anyone been baking with these, feel they are superior to traditional metal and glass baking stuff?

I love my silpat, so would expect that these are good, but curious if they really are easier to turn out etc...

I have several pieces of silicon bake-ware, mainly for making corn-breads. One of the molds makes little 3" x 1" x 1" cakes which are the perfect size. The particular recipe I use results in breads that stick badly, even to greased parchment. But they just pop out of the silicon molds which I brush with some melted butter before filling. The breads brown perfectly and the molds clean up in a second. I'm sold.

Bill/SFNM

On the other hand, I picked up a silicon angel food cake pan that I've tried twice and then demoted to the basement on its slow way to Goodwill. I find the floppiness hard to handle, and then, worse, the cake stuck miserably.

Ann Fisher wrote: I find the floppiness hard to handle, and then, worse, the cake stuck miserably.

Ann - did you place the mold onto a cookie sheet to combat the floppiness?

I have the heart shaped silicone muffin mold. I spray with Pam when I bake muffins and brownies. It works wonderfully and never sticks for me. I just turn them over onto a cooling rack, and squeeze the sides a little to unmold. However, I find that the Pam leaves "greasy" spots on the mold even after being run through the dishwasher. Bill - How do you clean yours?

I also have a square pan and a bundt cake pan. I've only used each one twice now, so I don't have much of a verdict on those yet. I saw that Crate & Barrel ($12.95 for 8 ) and Sur La Table ($22.95 for 12) now have cute little individual sillicone muffin cups.

Pucca wrote:I saw that Crate & Barrel ($12.95 for and Sur La Table ($22.95 for 12) now have cute little individual sillicone muffin cups.

They're on our wedding registry already...

I just made some cornbreads for lunch today to go with some ribs:



I NEVER use Pam for baking. It can cook on to form a varnish that is very difficult to clean off. In fact, one of my molds come with a warning not to use Pam. I usually brush on a thin coat of butter or lard or bacon grease depending on what I'm baking. I just wash with some soapy water and a brush.

Angel food cakes, in theory, are supposed to stick for a maximal rise. CI recommends against using non-stick.

Bill/SFNM

Bill/SFNM wrote:I NEVER use Pam for baking. It can cook on to form a varnish that is very difficult to clean off. In fact, one of my molds come with a warning not to use Pam. I usually brush on a thin coat of butter or lard or bacon grease depending on what I'm baking. I just wash with some soapy water and a brush.

Your cornbread looks absolutely delicious! I am salivating in my cube!

Thanks for the melted butter tip. I will try that next time. I hope I haven't ruined my molds. The weird thing is that the "varnish" from the Pam washes off on the inside, but not the outside.

I've loved my tart pan -- perfect because I don't own a springform one. Its floppiness is ideal for removal from tender crusts. At least in my experience (tho admittedly, a good springform tart pan is a lot easier to work with...).

We used to use the silicone molds quite frequently back at the Four Seasons - it was great for odd-shaped cakes and cookies that would be otherwise completely stuck in an aluminum, iron or stainless mold. The round molds were particularly wonderful.

I've got a silcone 9 inch round cake pan I just love. Great for quickbreads, Fer Breton, you name it. Although I did learn the lesson about Pam the hard way :/

Ian

Over the years, I have purchased numerous silicone baking pans which, like many other cooking indulgences, get stored away and forgotten. However, each time I remember to use them, I understand why they have been assigned to storage.

Items take longer to cook, don't brown as well, and rise unevely. All in all, the quality of the baked goods, to my taste, is inferior to those baked in metal pans.

Is this what other bakers have experienced? If not, any pointers you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Jyoti

Jygach-

Thanks for the heads-up. I've never felt compelled to purchase those baking pans, but have considered it. I think the influx of these pans on the market further substantiates this country's obsession with all things silicone . . .

I use the six compartment muffin pan all the time for cornbread - easy to get 'em out, easy to clean and no problem with floppiness on such a small pan. I use a spray non-stick - the top of the pan has become discolored but that ain't a big deal.

I could (easily) live without the muffin fan but the silicone hotpads are essential. They grip pans securely, they insulate even when wet and they can be cleaned in an instant by just holding them under the faucet (or they can be tossed in the dishwasher).

I've used the 6 cup silicone brioche pan to mold ice cream. Worked well and the ice cream popped out cleanly.

I'm a big fan of silicone products and have a whole variety of them from the obvious silpat to the expensive flexipan products from JB Prince and the muffin cups that I bought on sale.

The muffin cups were the ones that surprised me the most (though I'm not sure why). The come off cleanly and eliminate the need for the environmentally unsustainable paper liners. I've now bought several sets.

Cake baked in silicone pan, left, vs. conventional pan.

I had occasion to do considerable testing of silicone products against conventional cookware recently. You can see the results of a cake test up top. Same recipe, baked in the same oven at the same time, position switched partway through. The cake in the silicone pan (Wilton) baked much more evenly, as you can see, though it didn't rise quite so high.

With cornbread, I did an additional test: silicone pan, nonstick and cast iron. The silicone version compared beautifully to the nonstick, but took a few minutes longer for optimum browning. The cast iron was still the crustiest, but only by a hair, not enough that I'd worry about it -- and it did stick. (Bill, I'd love to see your recipe. I'm looking for a cornbread that's less crumbly than the one I've been making.)

On the other hand, gelatin molds required all the dipping in hot water and other tricks that Mom taught me on metal molds.

I hated the silicone oven mitts (SiliconeZone). Not only did they make my hands sweat, they transferred heat uncomfortably when I tried to move a hot oven rack. Too bad, because I'm always catching the cotton ones on fire and the leather welding gloves I've tried as an alternative can't be washed.

The thing is, there's silicone and silicone. Just like conventional pans, they come in different levels of quality, and there's a difference between commercial and consumer products.

Some of the consumer products are pure silicone and some are not. One way to tell the difference is to twist or fold the pan. If any white shows through, it's an inferior pan with fillers added to the silicone.

I did not test any restaurant-quality bakeware. My research and interviews indicated that it's several times more expensive than the consumer bakeware, even thinner and floppier and often not sized for home ovens. However, it tends to have even better nonstick qualities than the consumer bakeware. One chef raved that he never had to grease his Demarle molds. The chefs I spoke to were uniformly positive about silicone.

Consumer pans nearly all need to be greased. I used oven spray and had no problems with clean up.

You do have to get used to the floppiness. A baking sheet under the pan is essential. (And if you succumb to the adorable Silly-Feet! cupcake pans, you might even want to put them in something deeper.)

For more silicone comparisons and tips, see Sizing up silicone.

MAG wrote:The muffin cups were the ones that surprised me the most (though I'm not sure why). The come off cleanly and eliminate the need for the environmentally unsustainable paper liners. I've now bought several sets.

I would still be inclined to use the paper liners simply to keep the cake moist. A frosted cupcake in a paper liner will retain its moisture and freshness longer than a cupcake with exposed surfaces. OF course if they are eaten promptly, then it doesn't matter.

Regards,

I use them in business and for muffins, not cupcakes, which I would never serve a day old. In fact, with the exception of extraordinarily moist muffins, I usually bake on site.

aschie30 wrote:I think the influx of these pans on the market further substantiates this country's obsession with all things silicone . . .

I once went off on an (offline) rant about the sometimes gratuitous use of silicone in the manufacture of kitchen implements. I've seen applications of silicone that make a lot of sense to me. Silicone pans, in theory (i.e. I have no experience with them), make sense, particularly with odd-shaped cakes and cookies as noted. I think a meat thermometer with silicone one the edges of the display makes sense if it actually eliminates the need to grab a kitchen towel to pull out the hot thermometer. However, a potato masher covered with silicone (the non-handle part, that is)?! I've heard the explanation that the silicone in that case protects the mixing bowl. Maybe it's just me, but my mixing bowls don't need really need that kind of protection. Besides, in terms of padding, anything I'm mashing--whether it's potatoes or beans or whatever--usually provides more than enough cushion between the masher and the bowl. This is just one instance where I feel like silicone is being employed unnecessarily and far from any way that would justify a price higher than that of a masher not outfitted with polysiloxane.

Yes, a lot of manufacturers seem to have decided that silicone is hot stuff and they should use it, without putting it to use as anything except a colorful fashion accessory. For example, silicone measuring cups with metal handles. If they were all silicone, I could understand it, sort of, because you could put them in the microwave, but the metal handles mean you can't. And silicone-covered tongs don't make much sense, either -- I can't think of any uses for them that ordinary metal tongs wouldn't do just as well.

I am, however, very happy with silicone spatulas -- I was always melting the rubber and nylon ones -- and for all but, perhaps, the most delicate pastries, silicone pastry brushes are great; they don't have metal ferrules that rust and they don't shed hairs in your food.

LAZ wrote: silicone pastry brushes are great; they don't have metal ferrules that rust and they don't shed hairs in your food.

And they are dishwasher safe! Marinades, melted butter, etc, actually transfer rather than getting stuck between the bristles. I love them and own 3!

happy_stomach wrote:I think a meat thermometer with silicone one the edges of the display makes sense if it actually eliminates the need to grab a kitchen towel to pull out the hot thermometer.

Actually, I don't think that it would. The silicone gets hot. It cools more rapidly than metal, but just out of the oven you need hot pads.

Thanks for all the silcone-related responses.

LAZ I will try my different pans (made my different manufacturers) and see if I get different results from each.

I would like to share that while I have not, in general, been enthusiastic about the reults from baking pans, I am thrilled by the silcone oven mitts I recently purchased. I had tried at least three other silcone mitts and found them to be very stiff and difficult to use. No longer! I now have a pair of mitts that are flexible, thin, and really protect you from hot pans.
The are called Kitchen Grips and they are absolutely wonderful.

Available at many stores and at Amazon.

Jyoti

1st time I sprayed Pam on square silicone, no cookie sheet. Followed directions, cake overcooked, burnt, hard. 2nd time used pam, cookie sheet, did 1/2 the cooking time, somewhat raw. Do you reduce temperature, reduce cooking time to get same results from using metal? Besides giving support, does the cookie sheet affect cooking results?

jujubee wrote:Do you reduce temperature, reduce cooking time to get same results from using metal? Besides giving support, does the cookie sheet affect cooking results?

Chicago Sun-Times: Sizing Up Silicone wrote:Using silicone cookware
* Wash well in soapy water before first use.
* Most pans benefit from a spritz of cooking spray or a light brush with oil.
* Use a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet under a silicone pan for stability.
* Cakes don't rise quite as high in silicone pans. For most recipes, fill pans 1/2 to 3/4 full; for cupcakes and muffins, fill almost to the top.
* Baking times may need adjusting. Small cookies or muffins may take less time, larger cakes and breads likely need extra time.
* Don't put silicone on stovetop burners or under the broiler.
* Pans get just as hot as metal -- use hot pads!
* Don't use metal utensils that can damage the silicone.
* Cover with foil or plastic wrap when storing in the freezer.
* Turn pans inside out for easier washing.
* Don't use abrasive cleaners.
* Most products are dishwasher-safe, but position so they don't come into contact with sharp objects. Gritty detergents can damage shiny nonstick surfaces; liquids are recommended.

Baking times do need adjusting for silicone. I used the same oven temperatures. Cakes took longer than conventional pans, while smaller items like cupcakes sometimes took a bit less. This was baking side-by-side, with both types set on a jellyroll pan.

Probably, the cookie sheet does make some difference, too. I note that Demarle, which makes professional silicone cookware, sells perforated sheet pans to go under the pans. I haven't seen anything like that for home cooks.

It's always a good idea, when you use a new pan for the first time -- whatever kind -- to check on the baking early. I've had wildly different results even with conventional pans due to differences in materials or coating.

General Electric Silicone Products Department (mp3) wrote:

You feel your product's not enough.
You feel it isn't up to snuff.
Silicones! Silicones!
What it may need may not be much.
What it may need is just a touch
Of silicones! Silicones!
They can wash your product's problems away.

-- "Got to Investigate Silicones," 1973 industrial musical