Siliconen Culinair in practice: soap moulds, baking cakes and chocolate moulds

Siliconen Culinair is an addition-cure silicone that complies with food-contact regulations. Below are the questions we get about it most often.

Is Siliconen Culinair suitable for soap moulds?

Yes, excellent. But it isn't the cheapest route. For soap moulds Condensation Silicone 20 works just as well, and it can be both poured and spread. Both silicones are flexible enough for detailed soap moulds.

The practical difference is the mixing ratio:

• Siliconen Culinair: 1 part A to 1 part B
• Condensation Silicone 20: 100 parts A to 2 parts B

Condensation silicones give off a slight odour at first. It disappears on its own. To speed that up: put the mould in the oven at 100 degrees for 2 hours, let it cool completely, wash it in soapy water and dry it.

If you work with very aggressive ingredients or strongly alkaline soaps, choose platinum silicones instead.

Can I bake a cake in a Siliconen Culinair mould?

You can, but mind the wall thickness of your mould:

• Where the silicone is thick, it takes longer for the heat to reach the batter. Those areas need more oven time.
• Where the silicone is thin, the heat arrives faster. There the batter cooks sooner — and sometimes too much.
• At thin spots the mould can also give way as the cake rises.
• Models with lots of detail or thin protrusions can snap off when you turn the cake out.

So keep the wall thickness as even as you can when casting a baking mould.

My Siliconen Culinair mould stayed sticky

If the mould feels soft and tacky after curing, there are two possible causes.

1. The mixing ratio was off. Siliconen Culinair is 1:1, and that is a requirement, not a guideline. Too large a deviation gives partial or no curing, and therefore a soft, sticky and weak result.

2. Cure inhibition. The master model, the formwork or the release agent contains a substance that blocks the curing of platinum silicones. This is the most common cause and the hardest to spot. Read up on it in silicone cure inhibition.

Work at room temperature where possible. And always run a small test with the materials you intend to use. If the silicone isn't affected in that test, it won't be in the final cast either.

Can I make chocolate moulds from Siliconen Culinair?

Yes. Model the master shapes from plasticine, polymer clay or another material. Prefer a white variety so the silicone is guaranteed not to discolour. The silicone mould picks up every detail. A release agent between plasticine and Siliconen Culinair isn't necessary.

With chocolate, remember this: chocolate only shines if the master model shines. Professional chocolatiers usually insist on it, because gloss makes chocolate look more appetising. If you want shine, there are two routes:

1. Make sure the master model already shines.
2. Spray the matt chocolate with edible alcohol. It partly dissolves the outer layer and evaporates, leaving the chocolate glossy.

Bear in mind that chocolate is an aggressive material. Over time it dulls the silicone's gloss. The mould keeps working fine, but the chocolates will shine less brightly.

---

Read more about silicone in the kitchen in silicone moulds in the kitchen. A question about your specific application? Get in touch.