Cookaholics Bulletin Board

For those of you who have convection ovens, how powerful is the fan in your oven? I am asking, because I just read the comments in the cake topic about baking a cake in a convection oven. I have a convection oven and I use the convection setting to bake cakes all the time with no problems. My fan blows the air two ways in my oven, so you don't get a blast of hot air when you open the door. The air is definitely moving, but not like the commercial ovens I used to work with in the restaurants and schools. Those suckers would dry your contacts and blow them right out of your eyes in about 3 seconds. I do reduce the temperature by 25 degrees when I bake something.

I don't have a convection oven at home (alas, and something I will eventually change), but I use very powerful convection ovens at work and make (chiffon) cakes in them all the time with no problems. You certainly can make cakes using convection, you just need to monitor it as they can cook much more quickly.

Amy

I use my convection for cakes as well with no troubles. The only problems are with souffles and cheesecakes. The souffles get a bit lopsided and the cheesecakes develop cracks before they have a chance to set in the middle.

Totally agree with Jenny on both counts. I also never make crème brulée in a convection oven.

Amy

I don't use mine with cakes: I don't think my fan is multidirectional, it will melt your eyelashes, and as an added bonus! dry your contacts so that you have to really work at it to blink freely. I use it for anything I don't consider delicate, and sometimes, cookies. Reducing temp 25*.

Crystal, you may want to try baking cookies on convection. I absolutely LOVE mine for that very feature. Who can't like baking 3 trays of cookies at the same time and not having to rotate, change racks, etc.? There are some exceptions to this though: I can't remember which CI cookie specifically says to bake one tray at a time (a chocolate cookie, I think ).

I think it's safe to say that anything that needs to be baked in a water bath gets no convection. But other than those few exceptions, I'm using convection almost exclusively.

I still don't use convection for cakes....they just rise too fast in my oven, then collapse. But I love my convection for cookies and roasting.

Ilene,

The rising and falling may be related to altitude. Do you adjust leavening?

Amy

Good thought Amy....I don't adjust recipe for altitude and when I bake without convection, the cakes comes out fine, so its just as easy to remember to turn the fan off, I think.
ilene

Crystal, I've also had that contact lens drying thing happen. I also have a necklace that I wear all of the time that gets really hot if I bend toward the open oven. Baking can be quite the adventure
Nancy