What do you think?! Does a cake loose moisture when using a convection oven or does it help?
Also does it really help to use the cake baking strips that Wilton has. The ones you moisten and wrap around the cake pan while baking?
How do you guys ensure a fairly even topped cake as oppose to a domed cake you have to loose most of when leveling!

i would like to know about the bake even strips too. And I don't have the slightest clue about what the difference in ovens is... Maybe someone can give us a little more insight..

A convectional oven has a fan inside which circulates the heat evenly all around the cake and is supposed to bake it more even inside and out.A regular oven is just direct heat which sometimes burns the top or bottom of a cake before the middle is cooked.I have used both but prefer convection...especially if I am baking white cakes.The convection doesn't burn the top or bottom.I also reduce the heat in convection to 325 and bake a little longer.The bake even strips are supposed to bake the cake evenly without the dome..I have tried them also but don't use them regularily.Some bakers swear by them... I don't think it makes that much of a difference since I level my cakes right out of the oven with a rack or board.

Before you go & buy the Wilton cake strips, try this:

Take a large towel & cut 2" wide strips (long way). Get them wet, wring out & wrap around your cake pans & secure with a pin or binder clip. Bake as usual.

I saw this tip on a You Tube video & have been using it ever since. Works great for me! You can always cut wider strips for deeper pans & vice versa.

If it doesn't work for you, at least you're not out any $$.

I prefer convection. It's more efficient.

I don't use cake strips or heating cores (including flowers nails)--never have, never will.

I love the bake even strips. My cakes bake much more evenly and for anything over 8" I use flower nails for heating cores.

I find the bake strips work well. They especially work on chocolate cakes since i find they cook a little faster and have a tendency to want to dome more. If you are baking at suggested temperatures, the strips and nail work well. If you are baking at lower temps for longer time, not as much of an impact since the cake has time to rise evenly. The towel strips would work just as well. Always wet them completely and wring out just so that they are not dripping. Pin them on.

I have had cakes seem to be done and then become too dense in the middle after baking. This was usually yellow cake. The nail always prevents this by conducting some heat right up the middle. It is cheap insurance for me.