When I bought my first silicone cake pan years ago, I swore I’d never buy another metal pan. But I couldn’t stick to my word. At the time, silicone pans came in the usual round shapes and they were very expensive.
Not anymore.
These days, silicone pans come in many shapes and sizes and, and the prices have dropped over the past couple of years.
The six-hole mini-tube pan in the photo cost P179.50, the brand is Anchor, the label is in French and there was no English translation. Sam discovered it at Landmark last weekend and showed it to me. I was hesitant at first but when I saw the price, I knew I could start replacing my metal pans with everything silicone.
Note that despite the drop in prices over the past couple of years, silicone baking pans are still not as inexpensive as aluminum pans but, in the long term, they will prove to be reasonably priced. Why?
I’m sick to death of buttering, flouring and lining aluminum pans. Butter is expensive. So is baking paper. I’ve bought non-stick metal pans in the past and although I used them for years and years, the non-stick coating still wore out and, eventually, they had to be replaced.
Silicone pans are non-stick but there is no coating that will eventually disintegrate. Clean-up is so easy — no scraping, no soaking, no scrubbing. Just wash in warm soapy water, wiping all surfaces with a soft sponge and that’s it.
Silicone pans require very little storage space. They can be rolled or folded and kept in a drawer and they won’t tear nor lose their shape. Cakes bake evenly in silicone pans and no oven temperature adjustment is necessary unlike when using metal pans.
If that’s not enough in the list of pros, silicone is low taint and non-toxic.
