Spray Foam
Spray foam rises and can be used to immitate rising dough and will expand to fill the space of any mold.
Supplies:
- Spray foam
- Disposable or silicone mold
- Paint – depending on the item you’re making
From bread, to cupcakes, to madeleine cookies, spray foam can be an extremely versatile material. It can be a bit difficult to work with at first, but after some practice, it becomes a useful item for any faux food tool kit.
Some tips for ensuring success:
First and foremost, spray foam can be incredibly sticky and almost impossible to remove from fabric, so wear gloves and old clothes.
After first opening the can, the foam will likely rise more than it will after being open for a day or two. Keep this in mind when deciding how much foam to spray. On that note, to store your foam can, do your best to lock in the air. Some cans come with a place to attach the open hose, but in my experience the nozzle gets too messy for that, so I tend to use aluminum foil to keep the end covered.
If you’re making something like a madeleine cookie that you want to prevent getting overly puffy, you can place a cookie sheet on the back of the mold to prevent it from rising too much.
If you’re making bread with disposable bread tins, try doubling them up. The foam is strong enough to warp the tin, so the extra layer will help hold it in place. The same goes for cupcake liners as well. To even further prevent warping, you can leave a .5 inch gap between the foam and the liner and the foam will fill in, but won’t overly puff out the sides.
It’s a good idea to weigh down the bottom of smaller items like cupcakes as they may become top heavy.
As mentioned, the spray foam can be unpredictable, so I’d recommend having some backup molds in case you need to try again.