Spork and Knife

Lately, I’ve been in a baking mood and once I start I just can’t stop.  My most recent conquest was Amaretto Cake, which is made in a bundt pan.  While I can’t give you the recipe (I had to swear not to post it), I can give plenty of commentary on the pan I purchased to facilitate the baking process. 

Through the grapevine of friends and relatives, I was told to jump on the silicone bandwagon.  They gave a variety of reasons, some of which I will list below.

• Oven safe up to 500 degrees. (Well I would hope so…I plan to bake with it!)

• Microwave and freezer safe.  (Not sure how I would benefit from this…popsicles perhaps?  Faster cool down time?)  

• Dishwasher safe/Easy to clean. (Sometimes putting hands into hot hot water full of food bits is not appealing…dishwashers are such a convenient option!  Plus they don’t dry out your hands)

• Fun Colors. (blue, red, yellow, green…much better than grey)    

• Can be stored in minimal space.  (Since I am perpetually short on kitchen cabinet space this was a MAJOR plus)

In the end, I decided that fun colors, the ability to squish into tight spaces and relative inexpensive cost were enough reasons to give silicone a try.  I headed to Sur La Table to make my purchase.  They had a variety of silicone products: cupcake pans/baking cups, cake pans, tart pans…I could go on but won’t.  I grabbed my bundt pan, paid $17.99 and was on my way.  NOTE: I later found the same pan at Rodman’s for only $14.99…figures.

 Thoughts:   

Prep was easy.  I made sure to coat the inside of the pan with baking spray, paying special attention to the inside hole of the bundt pan, where everything usually sticks.   

Noise.  There was none.  No clanging of a metal pan against the counter.  A small, but nice change.

Actual Baking.  Since the pan is bendable, I didn’t want my cake to take the form of the baking racks in the oven.  To prevent this I put my silicone pan on a cookie sheet and then placed everything in the oven.  I would suggest to do the same.  It’s a small step that could make a big difference.  Also, baking time was 10 minutes longer.  Apparently, this is common.

Results.  Once out of the oven the pan cooled down very quickly.  Bonus, since I am often impatient and burn myself trying to get things out of hot pans.  The cake itself slid right out.  There was no shaking, banging or coaxing of any sort.  Everything was cooked properly and the clean-up was quick and painless.  A rinse in warm soapy water and a  towel dry were all that was needed.

One Gripe: It could be the particular pan I bought, but the cake did not have as precise of a shape as my metal pans.  I will have to test this theory. 

Overall:

There were many benefits to baking with silicone.  Quick cool down time, easy clean-up and easy storage.  However, I don’t think silicone + bundt pans go together.  The shape isn’t as precise, quite possibly since bundts are heavier cakes and they end up weighing down the pan.  I will consider myself a silicone convert for other endeavors, but might just stick to good ol’ metal when it comes to bundt cakes.