pcm
Novice
Posts: 75
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Post by pcm on Dec 27, 2010 20:19:33 GMT -5
Hi, has anyone used silicon molds for bars? Can you get better detail with a silicon mold? Maybe no (or different) release marks? thanks
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Post by deborah on Dec 27, 2010 23:11:15 GMT -5
The greatest drawback to silicone molds is that there is no shine to the finished product. The cocoa butter in chocolate shines when it cools against plastic (esp. polycarbonate) molds. Antique metal molds also provide a slick surface from which a shine is derived, but the "rubber" finish of silicone gives you a matte finish. I doubt the detail is any better, since there are no real rigid edges. Silicone is great for baking; not so great for chocolates if you like a nice shiny finish.
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Post by tony on Dec 28, 2010 8:32:21 GMT -5
Yes and besides which they seem to be too floppy.... :-)
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Post by joetlnf on Dec 9, 2016 4:43:17 GMT -5
I know this is an old post, but since I've been making my own silicone molds, I wanted to throw in my 2 cents: the main disadvantage of silicone is how floppy it is, but you can get around this by putting the molds on a rigid board and then tapping that to remove bubbles. Other disadvantages to silicone are bulk and expense (not off the shelf necessarily, but custom), but this is less of an issue for small batches. For me, the main advantage is that, if you are doing small scale batches as a hobby (1-2 lbs), they offer the best detail available that I know of if you want to design your own molds, and the finish will be just as good as the master that you cast from: nice glossy master = nice glossy silicone surface = nice shiny chocolate finish. In fact, I have yet to see any release marks on the chocolate from the silicone bar molds (1.6oz) that I've made.
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Post by bmikiten on Dec 10, 2016 23:04:28 GMT -5
I've used a few molds from www.customcandymolds.com and have been very pleased with the detail and the design which forms a block of silicone around the mold to support the shape. I put the entire mold on a cookie tray while cooling so I can move them and have no issues. I'm about to do a custom mold order with them and expect good things. Brian
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