Why are Cold Molds Better?
So, why are Cold Molds a better option for producing frozen dessert novelties? As a previously loyal customer of Cold Molds, before I came to purchase the company, I can tell you my experiences. Read them and judge for yourself:
Versus Traditional Spring-Form Molds
Cold Molds provide several advantages over traditional springform pans when used to make frozen dessert cakes and novelties:
Durability
Spring pans become dented over time, and the spring lock mechanism can loosen or even break off completely. Even if they survive, the metal will oxidize as they age, leaving your pans looking old and dirty, not the type of utensils you’ll want within sightlines of your customers or potential wholesale clients.
Cold Molds are virtually indestructible with normal use. You can use the flexible mold time after time, and it will bounce back into like-new condition after each use. I have molds that I’ve used hundreds of times over five years, and they still look nearly as good as new.
This toughness helps you to make your operation more profitable. Consider that the price of a springform pan is roughly the same as the price for a genuine Cold Molds pan (maybe there’s a dollar or two difference, depending upon the quality of the springform pan you purchase — for a high-quality pan, you’re likely paying *more* for those!)
The first time you need to replace a pan because it became too dented to use, or the spring broke, or you lost the bottom pan, you’re losing money! Your Cold Molds will continue to bounce back to near original condition, year after year. Put that money into your pocket, not into the pocket of your equipment supply house!
Metal Pans are Cold to Handle.
Better have heavy gloves to protect your hands against freezer burn, as the cold of your frozen products will be quickly conducted through the metal pans. Working with thick gloves is clumsy and time-consuming, and you have to fight a constant battle to keep those heavy gloves in a sanitary condition.
Cold Molds are made from a siliconized rubber, which insulates the ice cream, without conducting that cold to the hands of the food handler. For sanitary reasons, you’ll likely still want to wear gloves to handle them, but simple disposable vinyl food handler gloves, which you likely already use if you run a store or foodservice operation, are all that’s needed.
Less storage space!
At our store, we have about 40 cake molds that are in nearly constant use. When they’re not in use, we store all of those molds in one single wire basket, measuring approximately 15″ wide X 18″ deep X 12″ in height Try storing that many metal pans and you’ll need a long shelf or plenty of wall space with hooks and hangers!
No Need to Refreeze!
To release the ice cream from a metal spring pan, most people warm the pan slightly, using either a warm towel or a heat gun, or hairdryer. This melts a thin layer of ice cream, allowing the mold to release. But when you’ve removed the pan, you’ll need to pop the ice cream blank back into the freezer to refreeze that thin layer of the melted product before you can frost it or dip it in cover.
With a Cold Mold, the flexible mold peels right off, leaving a cold, clean, hard surface which you can immediately ice, with no intermediate refreezing step. This saves you time, which translates to money in saved labor costs.
Profits!
Why are you in business? To make a profit, right? So why are you throwing away money on expensive springform pans and on paying your employees to work with them?
With Cold Molds, you can de-mold a frozen cake in seconds, and it’s immediately ready to decorate. With a metal pan, you need the time to warm the pan, using either warm towels, a heat gun, or by simply leaving it on the counter for a few minutes, before you’ll be able to remove the ice cream from the pan.
Consider: it takes maybe 5 seconds to unmold a Cold Molds form. To be safe, let’s say it takes 10 seconds.
How long does it take you to release an ice cream cake from a metal pan? A minute? Two? More? Let’s assume you’re “wicked fast”, and you can remove it in two minutes. (Time yourself next time you release a mold from a metal pan, I’ll bet it takes you even longer. Don’t forget to count the time it takes you to fill the dipping pan with warm water or to drag out the heat gun!)
That’s a 110-second difference. In my state, the minimum wage is $13.50 per hour. That’s $13.50/hour * 1/3600 hours/second * 110 seconds/cake, or around 41 cents per cake savings.
After you’ve made just 61 cakes, your average Cold Molds has paid for itself in labor savings.
And remember, we assumed minimum wage (and didn’t consider payroll taxes, insurance, and other related labor costs). I’ll bet you pay your cake decorators more than that (or you consider your own time worth more than that!)
And, the Cold Molds cake is ready to decorate. The one you had to melt to get to release needs to be refrozen first. With your help sitting around waiting for it.
Plus, we assumed 30 seconds to de-mold the Cold Molds cake. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, I think you’ll find it’s closer to 10 seconds than 30. Rather than paying more to your payroll, you’re instead putting profits into your bank account!
Seeing is believing, right? Watch this video to see how quickly you can remove ice cream cakes with Cold Molds!
Versus Silicon Bakeware
While you can find similar silicon rubber molds at some of the big-name national retailers, we think that you’ll find that Cold Molds are far superior for frozen dessert applications:
A Softer Siliconized Rubber
The “softness” of the Cold Molds products has been specially refined over years of testing to produce the cleanest release of frozen products.
The cheaper molds are made from stiffer silicon rubber, and you’ll find that you’ll get “tear-out” — ice cream sticking to the corners of the mold as you peel the mold off. Thus, cakes and novelties made with Cold Molds have a crisp, clean, professional-looking finish, while those made with the others might not look as good. And remember, that “tear-out” is wasted product that will likely end up washed down your drain and into your grease trap!
Experienced Support
Cold Molds are designed specifically for frozen dessert applications, by people who understand the peculiarities of working with ice cream products, the others are not.
If you have product questions, we’ll be happy to share our years of experience helping you. Those big, national chains will be happy to help you with baking matters, but it’s doubtful that they’ll be able to give you any experienced advice in using their molds in a frozen dessert application.