You may have noticed that all of the cake pans we sell in our store are silicone bakeware. That's because we've found that silicone pans and molds are so easy to use.

But if you've never cooked with silicone, you may be wondering: how do you use silicone pans for baking? Can we use silicone molds in the oven? What about in the microwave oven? What temperature is safe to bake with silicone pans?

Well, you've come to the right place.

How to Use Silicone Pans for Baking

With our collection of silicone molds for making dog bone shape cakes, and other shapes, we've become a bit of the expert on the best way to use silicone pans for baking. That's why we've put together these seven tips for baking with silicone pans. These should help you the next time you need to make a dog birthday cake or a pawsome puppy cake.

1. Use cooking spray

For starters even though silicone is considered to be a non-stick material, we have found that isn't always entirely true. That's why before we've baked any cakes for our puppies, we always coat our silicone bakeware with cooking spray. That ensures that the silicone will, in fact, be non stick.

2. Place your silicone pan on a cookie sheet

You'll notice that silicone cake pans are flexible. This makes them easy to store and, later on, easy to get the cake out of the mold. But when pouring cake batter, well, things can get messy. If you try to pick up a silicone pan full of batter, there is a good chance you will spill it all over the place. That's why we recommend placing your silicone baking pans on a cookie sheet before you pour in the batter. This will make it easier to place the pans in the oven and, on the other side, easier to take out when your cake is done.

3. Dark colored silicone pans need extra time

You may notice that when baking cakes, brownies, cornbread or anything else in your silicone bakeware that things take a little longer to cook all the way through. That's because if your cake pan is dark colored, it needs extra time. Look at the instructions on the cake box or the recipe for whatever you're making, and follow the instructions for dark bakeware. It's usually just an extra five or 10 minutes more.

4. Follow oven temperatures as listed on cake, muffin or biscuit mix

Silicone pans are safe to use at hot temperatures. That's why you can use silicone molds in the oven as well as in the microwave. We've baked at temperatures up to 375 degrees, and the cake pans held up just fine.

We recommend you follow the instructions on the mix you are using, whether baking in the oven or microwave, for baking times and temperature. 

5. Cool silicone cake pans after baking

You'll cool what you've cooked in your silicone bakeware just the way you would cool a cake made in a metal or glass pan. It's really important that you place the baked cake on a cooling rack so the cooked batter can cool all the way around. You'll need at least 30 to 45 minutes for a cake cooked in a silicone mold to cool all the way down.

6. Peel silicone pan away

Perhaps this is the best part about cooking with silicone baking pans. When your cake is cool, you just flip the pan over and peel it away from your cake. You can do this peeling away because silicone is flexible and it bends easily. If you've coated the pan or mold with cooking spray, none of the cake should remain inside the pan once you've bent it fully inside out.

7. Wash in top rack of dishwasher

Here's another benefit of cooking with silicone baking pans--like any other cake pan, you can wash it in the dishwasher. We always put our cake pans in the top rack, and they come out sparkling clean.

It's important to note that you should never cut a cake while still in a silicone mold. While silicone is versatile, it is not impenetrable. We learned this the hard way once after using our dog bone cake pan to make brownies for us--not the dogs. We decided to serve the brownies right from the pan. Using only a butter knife, we cut right through the bottom of the pan. So even though the brownies were delicious, it was the last time we could use that pan.

 Has this article answered all of your questions about how to use silicone bakeware and using silicone baking pans for cooking? If not, please email us, and we'll find the answer to your question just as soon as we can.

Enjoy!