Is It Worth Investing In Silicone Bakeware?

As we enter the heart of baking season (which, weirdly enough, lines up almost perfectly with the holiday season), many home bakers are assessing their cake tins, loaf pans, and molds, and realizing they might need to restock. There are many ways to damage metal baking sheets and other bakeware through seemingly normal use. However, there are alternatives, most notable of which is silicone bakeware, which, over the last few years, you've probably seen with increasing frequency in the kitchen aisle. 

If you haven't used silicone before, the switch can be intimidating. And of course, there are pros and cons to metal versus silicone for baking.  So we spoke to Kelsey Elizabeth, who founded her bakery, Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes, at just 24 years of age. The entrepreneur and patissier also recently worked with California Champagne producer Korbel on Korbel & Cookies, to create the perfect cookies and champagne pairing. But the important question is: Should those cookies go into the oven on an aluminum or a silicone baking sheet? 

Overall, Elizabeth is positive about silicone. "Silicone is wonderfully convenient, especially for home bakers," she notes, adding, "It's naturally nonstick, flexible, and can go from freezer to oven without stress." This should be useful for those holiday cookies, as one of the all-time best cookie baking tips is to put them in the freezer for 10 minutes just before baking so that they keep their shape in the oven. 

In addition to being flexible and durable, silicone has other notable qualities. As Kelsey Elizabeth notes, "Silicone shines for molded shapes, candy work, freezing dough or fillings, and anything delicate that you want to release easily." This means it's perfect for both complex decorative baking and for the novice baker. If your three-ingredient banana brownies turn out perfectly every time you use silicone but always stick to a ceramic baking dish, then silicone is the clear winner. It's also easy to manufacture in intricate patterns, and that natural nonstick quality prevents elaborate cakes from breaking when removed from a silicone pan.

Other reasons to love silicone: It's family-friendly. It cools quickly when taken out of the oven, and is less likely than other materials to scald little fingers. Silicone can be thrown in the dishwasher at the end of a big day in the kitchen, and silicone pans and molds are easy to store. The material is neither heavy nor bulky, so it's unlikely to topple over when stacked.

As long as you dry it out quickly in a warm oven before putting it away, silicone can go almost instantly from the dishwasher to the cabinet. Elizabeth also points out that silicone is also nonreactive, which means you can use acidic ingredients or quick-clean your bakeware with most detergents (although watering them down is a good idea) without fear. Overall, silicone bakeware is probably your best choice for practicality and ease of use.

However, there are also some things silicone doesn't do well. "I still reach for metal pans for most cookies and cakes," says Kelsey Elizabeth. "Metal conducts heat more efficiently, which gives you better browning and more predictable structure." Though baked goods should cook through fine in silicone pans, they might lack crispy edges or that perfect crunch.

Another issue with silicone is that it's, well, wobbly. The same flexibility that makes it easy to demold your cakes can also be a liability. As Elizabeth points out, "If you're making something heavy or liquid-based — like batter for loaf cakes or brownies — it can buckle, bow, or spill." While this can result in a mess, there is a solution: Elizabeth recommends putting your silicon bakeware on a sheet pan. This offers support both in and out of the oven.

And that brings us to the crux of the matter. For all of the reasons mentioned here, silicone bakeware is a great investment for many bakers, but very few people will only ever need to outfit themselves solely with silicone pans and molds. They should be one of many tools in your baking arsenal alongside bakeware in more traditional materials and other essential baking gadgets. The perfect ratio for you depends on your desire for perfection versus practicality.