New York Baking Company Silicone Baking Cups Product Review

Welcome to my first ever product review! I was recently contacted by Rizzi from The New York Baking Company, who asked me if I would be interested in reviewing their silicone baking cups. I have never used silicon baking cups, since I have been making my way through a huge package of paper liners, but I use silicon baking mats rather than parchment paper, so the idea intrigued me. For about 10 bucks for a dozen cups, I figured they might be cost effective and more eco-friendly. They arrived in the mail a few days later, and I had a chance to test them out this week when making Corn & Blackberry Muffins.

The Lowdown:
These silicone baking cups from The New York Baking Company retail for $9.95. They are made of nonporous, BPA free silicone. The claim is that your muffins, cupcakes, and other desserts won’t stick to these cups, that they are easy to clean (dishwasher safe), and reusable.

The Pros:

• No sticking! I peeled off the silicone cups from my muffins both right after they came out of the oven and days later, and both times the muffins came out perfectly. There was a tiny bit of berry juice residue, but when compared to what sticks to paper liners, it was nothing. I would love to see how these hold up to mini cheesecakes!
• Easy to clean. I washed mine by hand, which took no time at all since nothing really stuck to the baking cups. I haven’t run them through my dishwasher yet, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t clean right up.
• Eco-friendly. Okay, I realize that making the switch to these baking cups won’t solve global warming, but if you bake a lot of cupcakes and muffins and are constantly throwing away paper liners, this might be a step in the right direction.
• Moisture retention. I tested muffins three ways: baked and fully cooled in silicone baking cups, baked in silicone baking cups and cooled without them, baked in paper liners, baked with no liner in a nonstick muffin tin. The muffins baked with no liner at all developed thick, brown sides and were quite a bit dryer than any of the other muffins. The moistest muffins were those that were baked and cooled in the silicone baking cups. Because the silicone is nonporous, it trapped in the moisture and steam that normally escapes in the cooling process.
• Even baking. The muffins baked in the silicone cups did not brown on the sides and bottoms like all of the others, giving the muffin an even, uniform appearance and texture.

The Cons:

• The colors. When I saw these baking cups, my heart sank a little, because I didn’t know how I could possibly incorporate all the neon colors into a photo shoot. I would love to see The New York Baking Company sell these in basic white, more toned down colors, or even fun patterns. That’s part of the fun that paper liners have to offer! I wouldn’t put cupcakes out in these at a party if I had a specific color theme going on.
• Quantity. Speaking of parties… when I make cupcakes, it’s usually for a party. And I’m probably not going to drop $30-40 to have enough baking cups for all the cupcakes my guests would consume.

The Questionable:

• Possible sogginess. While I enjoyed the moisture that the silicone baking cups gave to the muffins, I have to wonder if a really moist cupcake recipe would become sticky and soggy if cooled in the silicone baking cups. More research will need to be done on this front!
• Shape. While I like that the silicone baking cups have ridges like traditional paper liners, I noticed that the muffin shape itself was more squat in the silicone cups, whereas the paper cups yielded slightly taller muffin. It’s a very minor difference, but if you’re all about aesthetics, it might bother you.
• Risk! More than one friend has suggested to me that they might accidentally throw the silicone baking cups away in a party situation, simply because they are used to doing that with paper liners. I don’t really want to be chasing after people going, “Oh! Don’t throw that out!” So these will probably be used for personal cupcake time.

The Verdict:
I would recommend these if you love the neon rainbow of colors available in this set and make small batches of cupcakes or muffins on a regular basis. You will get some moist, evenly baked desserts out of these. Otherwise, I doubt that you will get your money’s worth, especially if you will be running out to buy cute paper liners for your sister’s baby shower, anyway.