silicone pans

The traditional way of baking a muffin, cake or cupcakes are by molding them in an aluminum pan.  They have different sizes and shapes.  4 to 6 pans in every mixture or batter of baking materials are enough.  You need to prepare your batter then grease on your pan.  Grease it with butter or oil sprays to avoid sticking batter on your pan.  Taking them out is a challenge as well even though they are greased on.  When you take them out, there will be leftovers on your pan.  These hard ways can be eased by using a light-weight and non-stick silicone pans.

Many consumers think that if they try to use the silicone pans they might get disappointed.  It might melt or it might have rubber smell or taste on food.  It might not last long and many other hesitations.  Actually silicone pans are best alternative of paper or muffin sheets or parchment.  You can contribute in saving trees by not using papers anymore but use silicone instead.  Silicone won’t melt because it can resist up to 500 degrees of heat making it more suitable for ovens and microwave ovens.  It is non-stick so no need to worry about it imparting taste and smell on your baking.  Greasing your silicone pan is not necessary anymore.  You just have to let your muffins or cake cool after getting it out of the oven and then just gently twist it to let your cake out.  It is flexible that makes it easy to have it out. 

Don’t be afraid to try new things like those cool silicone pans out there in the market.  They have different colors and different designs.  There designs like heart shapes, butterfly shapes clover circles with different edges and a lot more.  Your can choose form variety of sizes too.  There are also silicone mats, loaf pan, muffin and cake pans that are made of silicone.

Cleaning won’t be that hard.  Clean clothe, water and soap are enough to make them good as new.  It is also dishwasher friendly.  When storing them it will be nicer if it is in glass cabinets that will be visible to add decorations in your kitchen.  It expensive than the other pans and baking ware but it is in high quality that can guarantee you that it will last long,  maybe for years or so. 

Silicone Oven Mitts

Cooking requires you hands to be on the move.  It is your basic tool in preparing and cooking your food.  It is just right to protect it.  Having hands in good conditions can make your job in the kitchen faster and efficient.  It is hard to work with sore hands.  You can’t have good grip on pans and almost anything in your kitchen if that is the case.    Having safety precautions inside your kitchen is a must.  Remember that you are dealing with a heat, electricity, coldness, water and sharp objects like knives.  Cook’s first priority should be their safety.  Even in decorating the kitchen have to be safe and secured.

Shielding body especially your hands from heat is one way to protect yourself.  We usually use materials that are not heat conductor like clothe and wood.  Mittens that are made of clothe are the traditional protection of every cook’s hand.  There is an innovative product that we can use as an alternative for the clothe mittens that we usually use.  They are the silicone even mittens.  Ovens are hot most of the time and getting the food inside the oven is a dangerous process in cooking and baking.  Just a touch on the surface of the oven could burn your hand or even your arm.  Covering your hand by the mittens could lessen the risk.  Having a silicone mitt available in your kitchen could make your cooking and baking a little less hazardous.

Silicone oven mitts are non-toxic.  They are heat resistant and it doesn’t brittle even though always exposed in heat.  You can also use them in too cold objects or even ice.  It is flexible and durable.  It will surely last long and it will help you on your everyday cooking and baking works.  It will not change in color like other mitts do especially the quilted mitts.  It fits your hands that will give excellent grip because of its raised edges that help to have good grasp of materials.  There are variety of colors to choose from and different designs.  You are not just protecting yourself but you can also have a nice additional decoration in your kitchen area.  Cleaning the mitts is not that hard.  You can put them in a dishwasher or just rinse them with soap and water and then they are as good as new.
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Silicone molds

Before we go into "How to make food candles", let's get into the mind of your candle customer. You have to know why you are adding this line of products to your candle business. A majority of your candle buyers love food candles especially baked goods and sweets. Baked good candles stimulate memories of childhood and a time when life was easy. Besides invoking memories, they also create an air of "at home goodness". A place where family wants to be.

Better yet, your customer can have the beautiful smell and decor of an apple or cherry pie without adding to their waistline. You can smell apple or cherry pie in the morning, noon or night. This is the healthier marketing side of adding food candles to your business.
Here are 5 more reasons to add food candles to your candle business:

1.    Food candles add an unexpected twist to your candle making business

2.    They make great gifts for customers to buy for friends and family

3.    Food candles make nice party, wedding and baby shower favors

4.    They have a fun, distinct look

5.    They make nice decorations for the holidays, for example, apple pie for July 4Th, pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, Lemon Meringue pie for Easter, cherry pie for Valentine's Day

Here are the materials and directions I use to make a food candle for simple 5 inch pie food candle.
Materials

1.    3 inch fruit topper silicone mold or a any fruit silicone mold. I find that a fruit topper is easier to use

2.    5 inch full crust pie silicone mold

3.    5 inch pie tin

4.    Votive/pillar wax

5.    Fragrance oil

6.    Wick

7.    Color

8.    Drill

Directions

1.    Melt the candle wax (per companies directions)

2.    Have 3 separate small containers of the melted wax.
One for the fruit topper, one for the full pie crust and the rest for the pie crust filler

3.    Add color to the containers of wax. I make the fruit topper and pie crust filler the same color

4.    Pour your wax into your fruit topper silicone mold and full pie crust silicone mold

5.    Allow them to cool off

6.    Take them out of the mold

7.    Melt the pie crust filler and pour into your pie crust, making sure it is not too hot to melt the pie crust shell

8.    Allow the filler to cool off slightly to a gel consistency

9.    Place the fruit topper on top of the pie crust
filler. The topper should sink in the filler a bit. This will adhere the topper to the rest of the pie

10.    Take your drill and drill a hole into your pie candle

11.    Place your wick through the hole
Your pie is finished and ready to be packaged and sold to a happy candle customer

silicone cooking tools

Silicone cooking utensils are becoming more and more popular these days. I was in my favorite gourmet cookware store and they had a pretty good display of silicone cookware and utensils.

It just so happens that I was looking to replace an old basting brush that I had. I have never had any luck with basting brushes no matter what they were made of. I have used natural bristle brushes and nylon, they never seem to hold up well or last very long.

I decided to pick up a silicone basting brush while I was there. One of the advantages that I immediately picked up on about this cooking utensil is it appeared to be quite flexible and there is no need to worry about bristles shedding or fraying. Also they work well with non-stick cookware because they are soft and flexible and will not damage the non-stick surface. They will work well with traditional cookware sets also.

The next day I threw some ribs on the grill and decided to try out this new silicone brush. Well let me tell you, this basting brush really worked well. It held the BBQ sauce that I was using to baste the ribs better than any other traditional brush I have ever used. It is also dishwasher safe and cleaned up well in the dishwasher.

This gourmet cookware store also had a pretty good selection of silicon bakeware and other cookware. Now I don't know if this type of cookware is right for all kitchen uses but it is definitely worth looking at and evaluating it on a case by case basis.

Since I was pleased at the way this simple basting brush worked I will definitly be looking at other silicone utensils like spatulas spoons and other cookware.

What I have learned about silicone cookware is that it is not totally a non stick cookware. Some manufacturers of this type of cookware and bakeware still recommend that you grease or lightly flour it before using it.

Some advantages of silicon cookware,bakware and utensils are that they are stain resistant, dishwasher safe, will not retain odors or flavors and cools down quickly.

silicone baking cups

If you want to take your cupcakes to the next level, there are a variety of tools under twenty dollars that will help you add a professional touch.  These tools will not only make your cupcakes beautiful, but will also save you time and help avoid messes.  They'll expand your cupcake decorating repertoire and inspire new, tasty ideas.

1. Decorative cupcake wrappers - Laser-cut paper wrappers fit around the bottom and sides of standard cupcakes. They are slipped on the cupcakes once they are cool and frosted.  Wrappers can be different shapes and colors to match your theme.  Far more elegant than your typical cupcake wrappers, these add an artistic touch to your cupcakes.

2. Food decorating pen -  For finer details and designs on cupcakes, you'll find a food decorating pen is similar to a refillable pen or pencil, only with frosting . Because it handles like a pen, it has a natural feel and gives a high degree of control over the frosting.  They are great for thick or thin lines or borders, and can also be used on cookies, cakes or brownies.

3. Dual icing bag - You may be familiar with the standard pastry piping bag.  This version pipes two adjacent streams of frosting at once.  The dual bag is great for contrasting colors, textures and flavors of frosting. For example, you may have a coffee and a chocolate flavored frosting to pipe together on chocolate cupcakes.

4. Icer tube - Here's another tool that's an extension of the pastry bag.  The icer tube is great for a neat, mounded frosting finish, either perfectly smooth or with grooves. They're also handy for frosting large numbers of cupcakes at a time, or frosting the tops and sides of a regular cake.   The icer tube is guaranteed to save you time and minimize mess.

5. Reusable silicone baking cups - To use baking cups, simply fill each with cupcake batter and bake on a cookie sheet. In addition to making perfectly moist cupcakes, silicone cups are non-stick and virtually mess-free. These reusable cups also clean up beautifully and are dishwasher safe.

Each of these tools will run between ten and fifteen dollars each, but if you enjoy frosting cakes and cupcakes, they'll help expand your decorating capabilities and generate more ideas for awe-inspiring and delicious cupcakes.