Guide
Buying your first food-contact mould
If you've never spec'd a custom food-contact mould before, the process can feel opaque. It really isn't — it's a specific set of questions and answers. This guide walks through them.
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Guides for buyers, in plain English.
12 guides and 12 case studies on buying, designing, using and looking after food-contact silicone moulds.
Guides
Written for buyers, not spec-sheet readers.
Practical guides for anyone buying a food-contact silicone mould for the first time, or anyone whose supplier hasn't explained the basics properly.
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Pick one to start.
Guide
Silicone grades for food contact, in plain English
You don't need to remember a spec number to buy the right mould. You do need to know what a grade does. This guide walks through the ideas without the acronyms.
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Guide
Chocolate mould finish and gloss — how tooling affects it
Gloss on a chocolate bar comes from two places: the temper you gave the chocolate, and the finish inside the mould. Understanding the split helps you set expectations.
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Guide
Portion control and repeatability in patisserie
For a lot of food businesses, cavity volume is the whole game. Get it right and your food-cost holds; get it wrong and every dessert leaks margin.
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Guide
From hand-poured to production, for artisan food brands
A hand-poured silicone tray is a good place to start and, for many brands, a good place to stay. Knowing when to graduate is a real decision.
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Guide
Cleaning, sanitising and shelf life of silicone food moulds
The wash cycle usually ages a food mould faster than the fill does. Understanding cleandown is understanding mould life.
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Guide
Designing a custom mould with your pastry chef
The best mould conversations happen between a mould maker and the chef who'll actually use the tool. Here's how to make that a productive hour.
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Guide
Cocoa butter and mould finish
Gloss on chocolate comes from three things: your temper, the cavity surface and what has built up on it. Here is how the last two work.
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Guide
Scaling signature desserts
A dessert that works for twelve covers does not always work for two hundred. The mould is often where the scaling succeeds or fails.
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Guide
Mould storage and shelf life
A good silicone mould lasts a long time if it is stored well. Most early failures come from how moulds are kept, not how they are used.
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Guide
Choosing cavity count
More cavities is not always better. The right number comes from your shelf, your hands and your day.
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Guide
Emboss and branded details
A logo on food only works if it reads. Here is what makes the difference between a crisp mark and a smudge.
Read the guideCase studies
Real projects, anonymised.
Case study
A Midlands chocolatier's signature bar mould
One bar, one moulded logo, one bench-tap knock-out. A concise project that shows what silicone chocolate mould work looks like when the temper and knock-out are considered up-front.
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Case study
A patisserie chain's mousse entremet tooling
Four sites, one signature dessert, one shared cavity design. A project about consistency across venues rather than clever geometry.
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Case study
A Devon ice-cream producer's Union Jack lolly mould
A three-colour lolly with a wooden stick, blast-frozen, extracted by warm-water dip, wrapped by hand. Sequenced fill drove the mould design.
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Case study
A London bakery's tea-cake mould
A specialist regional format, sized to the bakery's existing rack, with a scored cavity top to help raisin studding sit even at bake.
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Case study
A specialist chocolatier's hollow bunny two-part mould
Two half-moulds, precise registration, a closing-and-rotate method worked out with the chef. Classic seasonal chocolate tooling.
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Case study
A Yorkshire caterer's portion-controlled dessert mould
A wedding caterer holding a portion cost across large numbers, cavity volume held to a specified target across every tray in the fleet.
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Beyond the guides.
Processes
How each moulding route works. Read processes
Materials
Food-contact silicone in plain English. Read materials
Quality
What we check and what we send. See quality
At a glance
The idea in a picture.
Solid pieces and shelled pieces
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Something not covered?
Ask us, and we'll answer.
If you're trying to write a spec, we'd rather help you write it well than talk you into an order.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Culinary, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- BRCGS Grade AATechcraft Industries Culinary Ltd. See the certificate details.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare