silicone bakeware

[Théière]

I know we at least a couple of avid bakers on here so may I ask a question?

Mrs TP doesn't do a lot of baking, A very ill Aunt requested her favorite cake.  We own a silicone cake bakeware of the right size.

All ingredients seem to mix to a good consistency and into the oven. At the appointed time I gently opened the door a little way and the cake still wobbled.  It was left in for longer about 10 then another 10 mins. it seems the top half has cooked well but the bottom half not so, soggy bottom!

My though was the silicone would stop the heat of the oven getting through to the bottom as it would in a metal cake tin, any ideas folks?

[BritinBretagne]

I use silicone cases and have never noticed any problems when baking.

[idun]

I suppose that it is called the 'art' of cooking for a reason, as cakes, for example, do not usually bake to a precise time, too many imponderables, so they can be ready a little sooner or later, in fact I have two cakes I make, one is always ready 10 minutes earlier and another, about 15 minutes over the proposed bake time.

Some recipes say that if the cake is starting to 'brown' too early to cover the top with foil until baked and I would frankly turn the oven down a bit if I had covered it.

And another thing that can affect this is it having been on the wrong shelf.

I don't believe that the silicone has anything to do with this.

And now to silicone cake 'tins'. My Tefal silicone has recently been chucked out, and with gusto, and please bear in mind, in general I love Tefal products. They did bake properly, it never inhibited baking, and it ALWAYS stuck.

So I did have a lovely looking well baked cake, and then a third of it would be left in the mould....... great eh!

 And I did try every last thing, I greased, didn't grease, greased and floured and it still stuck. And lining silicone with baking parchment, rather goes against what it is all supposed to be about.

I would NEVER recommend it, NEVER buy it again and just think that the stuff is a big waste of time.

What is this favourite cake? I would probably try again and personally I would turn the oven down a tadge, ie if it says 160 I would try 150 or 145 and bake it for ten minutes longer and in my oven at least, cakes tend to go on a middle shelf.

[Chancer]

It must have a very significant effect as silicone is a very good insulator and steel a very good conductor, I guess you will have to make allowances like moving the cake higher or lower in the oven or lowering the temperature and cooking for longer.

[mint]

I've never had any problems with silicone.  BUT I only have moulds for muffins, cup cakes, madeleines and not a full size cake mould.

I too do as Id has suggested:  turn down the temperature, adjust the time as necessary and my cakes also go on a middle shelf.

I use double layer grease proof paper on top if it's a slow bake like a rich fruit cake.

These days I use disposable aluminium to save on washing-up but you do need to watch carefully as everything seems to cook faster as the tins are thin and the heat seems to reach the contents more readily.

[woolybanana]

Perhaps silicone does need a different temperature from tin?

Given the dodgy temperature readings from my oven, I installeded a dangly thermometer so I know roughly what the temp is; I read an average between the over thermometer and my little dangly one. It seems to work.

[Patf]

I've never bought silicone bakeware, so can't give an opinion.

I have a very basic french gas oven, with only one shelf. Because the burners are in the base, at first everything got burnt on the bottom so I found a metal bakesheet and put that on the (only) shelf. No problems now with bread, cakes biscuits etc.

You need to find the best way to suit your oven by trial and error.

ps I bought 2 sponge flan tins from Lakeland which had some sort of insertion of silicone to release the sponges. When baked in my oven the silicone softened and baked into the sponges. I let Lakeland know and got my money back.

But that confirmed my suspicion of silicone.

[Théière]

Thanks all, I think the same as Chancer it insulates. I did however position in the middle of the oven and turned down the heat and allow to cook for longer. Probably 50% longer but the bottom 1/4 was underbaked. I suppose given long enough convection would have worked and found it's way to the bottom.

Yes it did stick so I think in this case silicone is no good.

Ah well we will try again with a tin, off to Wilko!

Thankfully it's edible with the top half like a cake and the bottom like bread pudding! [:D]

[andyh4]

Yes silicone is a better insulator than metal and it will slow down the rate of heat transfer - but only slow down. Since the oven is set at a constant temperature (til you fiddle with the knob) everything will quite quickly reach the oven temperature - just a little bit slower with silicon.

This is the same point as with regards protecting pot plants from frost with bubble pack. A light overnight frost and a warmish day and they will work, but leave the plants out all winter and like as not they will die because the soil in the pot will eventually freeze.

[Chancer]

2 ideas/questions.

 

Mass effect, you said that you had the right size silicone tin, was it exactly the same size as the metal one used for the same recipé?

 

My silicone tins are very floppy, were you perhaps using yours inside a metal tin? If so the insulation would play havoc with the normal conduction of the metal tin, I dont bake but get similar problems using silicone tins for grilling or roasting in my halogen oven, I bought another one recently in AldiUK which was pretending to be a dry fryer but was just another halogen oven, it did however come with 2 mesh tins which are the right size to contain and keep rigid my silicone ones and I get great results using both together.

[idun]

I made a delicious lemon curd bread pudding yesterday, rose like a souffle........ so nothing wrong with bread pudding.

Most of the time, I line cake tins with greased proof paper.

Good luck with your next cake, hate it when baking does not turn out and had some real disasters when I first moved to France until I got a really really good oven. Still the disasters are just part of the 'fun' of being somewhere new.

[Théière]

[quote user="Chancer"]

2 ideas/questions.

 

Mass effect, you said that you had the right size silicone tin, was it exactly the same size as the metal one used for the same recipé?

 

My silicone tins are very floppy, were you perhaps using yours inside a metal tin? If so the insulation would play havoc with the normal conduction of the metal tin, I dont bake but get similar problems using silicone tins for grilling or roasting in my halogen oven, I bought another one recently in AldiUK which was pretending to be a dry fryer but was just another halogen oven, it did however come with 2 mesh tins which are the right size to contain and keep rigid my silicone ones and I get great results using both together.

[/quote]

I don't think we have ever made this before and it was just the floppy silicone. Never mind, maybe we will try again...

The one thing my halogen cooker did exceptionally well was pork crackling, came out like pork scratchings [:)] I can almost hear Chancer cringing.

[Chancer]

Why? I still eat some meat although not red meat, nothing does roasts like a halogen oven!

[mint]

TP, did you put the cake on a baking sheet to transfer to the oven?

I suppose you must have done because otherwise, the filled silicone mould would be too wobbly with liquid contents.

I put flan tins, etc on baking sheets and usually put the baking sheet into the oven during the warming up time so the baking sheets are already hot when I put the flan or cake tins on them.

I think it was RH who told me to do this when baking quiches.

[Théière]

Yes, actually on the metal rack but everything was up to temperature before cake mix was put in.

[Patf]

Mint - your example of baking quiches.

Do you think that pastry bakes best in a metal tin, rather than in glass, pottery or silicone?

Pastry is still my weak point in baking.

[mint]

Pat, yes, I do find that metal is best for pastry.  I think that is because it heats up more quickly than the other materials.  With pastry, I believe it's best to get the case baking quickly and then you could turn the oven down a bit if it's a big or thick pie or flan and you don't want the pastry to burn before the contents are cooked through.

Teapot, I don't think that a metal rack is the same as a solid metal baking sheet.  The rack is not a solid surface, it is made up of round "slats".  With a baking sheet, the bottom of the cake is in contact throughout the base and not just where it touches the slats or rungs.

[Théière]

Could be Mint, another thing to watch for next time, thank you and everyone for your ideas

[BritinBretagne]

[quote user="andyh4"]Yes silicone is a better insulator than metal and it will slow down the rate of heat transfer - but only slow down. Since the oven is set at a constant temperature (til you fiddle with the knob) everything will quite quickly reach the oven temperature - just a little bit slower with silicon.

This is the same point as with regards protecting pot plants from frost with bubble pack. A light overnight frost and a warmish day and they will work, but leave the plants out all winter and like as not they will die because the soil in the pot will eventually freeze.[/quote]

The different insulating properties might make a significant difference in the sunshine but in a baking oven? Get real, the silicon might take a tiny bit longer to heat up but after that it will make no difference whatsoever.

[lindal1000]

I have all sorts of tins and silicone bakeware. From experience, the silicone is best for moulded type cakes, flats bakes, breads etc. But most of the time I put them inside a metal tin to stop them wobbling around. For cakes I tend to use a good quality metal tin lined with baking paper. But..big fruit cakes are never precise in terms of how long they take to bake and can be up to an hour under or over the recommended time.

[pomme]

You can now get a digital thermometer/timer with a separate probe (similar to https://goo.gl/1p4QGD) for about 10€ in supermarkets. Good and accurate for all sorts of cooking where you need an accurate temperature (used here for meat at 50°C, fruit cakes at 96-99°C, jam at 105°C). The probe wire has enough insulation to be left in permanently so no need to open the oven door (but, from experience, not enough insulation for use in a barbecue!)

[idun]

My tefal cake 'tins' were not floppy in any way. there was some sort of support built into the lip and the silicone substantial enough.

Still an absolute load of rubbish, but the general manufacture seemed of good quality.