Convection Ovens...advice Needed!
Decorating By loriemoms Updated 2 Oct 2006 , 11:54pm by sweetamber
My oven is starting to show signs of fading, and my DH has suggested I go ahead and replace it with a Jenn Air double oven (the top if just a regular oven, the bottom is a convetion oven Currently, I am spending hours and hours baking one cake at a time..sometimes one LAYER at a time for cakes over 12 inches I love the idea of being able to bake more then one cake with the fan going in a convection oven...but before taking this leap, I wanted to find out what experiences y'all have with them.
Is your cooking time really shorter? How much more? Is there a formala I should use for the extended cake mix recipe? (currently I am baking at 325 for an hour and 25 minutes for larger cakes..crazy, huh!)
Can I actually use BOTH shelves with the fan going, will the cakes cook evenly?
Any other hints?
Thank you!!!! Help!!
I have a double oven with the top being smaller than the bottom but it isn't convection. I do, however, bake a bunch of cakes at one time. I can bake a huge one one the bottom and several smaller sizes on the top. As a rule, I use the full size oven primarily and for larger sized cakes and then the top, smaller one as the back up....
Congratulations! They could hear me screaming for joy all over the neighborhood the day that puppy got delivered! 
Also, my mom has a convection and they bake FAST but with big cakes, I would be a little leary until I got it down... you know making sure that the middle is done, etc.....
I have a GE Profile convection oven, and I bake multiple cakes at once, even on two racks. I haven't had any problem with doing this.
My oven does a temperature correction (50 degrees) when the convection bake feature is on, so it actually bakes at a lower temperature than you set it. The result is that the cake takes the regular amount of time, but seems to be very moist and with a good "crumb".
RP
I have a ge profile too. I have three shelves and bake on all three. I load the puppy up and bake away. I just make sure that any of the smaller layers are up front. so i can pull them before the larger layers. I don't notice that the baking time is all that less, but being able to load up an oven really cuts the time down immensly. Big draw back, when we bought this oven i had to go out and buy more pans, cause i only had one of each and thats all that would fit in the old oven at one time. Now i can bake 3 12x18s all at once. I bake at 300 for the larger cakes and 325 for the smaller cakes, i bake with the fan on low.
Thanks Peg and Red! That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for....I would LOVe to load up as much cakes as I can, and spend more time decorating then baking! I looked into commericial ovens, and between having to put in special venting, insurance costs going up a lot, and the cost of the oven being HUGE, we decided we might just want to go this way. Your info helps ALOT!!!!!!!
I have a Kitchenaid Double convection wall oven.
I can load three racks, overfill my pans and keep both ovens baking at the same time!
I absolutely love it. Did a lot of research before buying and happy with the choice I made.
Does NOT dry out cakes. In fact, my cakes are moister than before. I do lower the oven temp by 25 degrees and when I overfill, even a bit lower.
I have a Frigidaire even cook convection oven. I have to be honest, I have not tried it out as much as I should. We bought it because they were having a special and if you bought it and the over the range microwave, you got a free matching dishwasher. LOL. Ended up being the same price as if we'd bought the non convection oven, since we needed all three appliances.
I haven't tried it on too many cakes, as I don't get a lot of practice time and so I just bake my cakes using the regular oven setting. One time I tried to do cupcakes with the convection on, and they baked lopsided and even spilled over on one side. I was using rimless cookie sheets to allow the air to circulate evenly, which I read was important. Anyways, I've been scared to try it since!
There are several books out there about using your convection oven. I would check your public library for one, and that way you can learn how to use it before you invest in one. Mine works great for roast though, ready in an hour and 15 minutes!
I just reread my post, and let me clarify. I was using foil cupcake liners on top of rimless baking sheets, and I had 3 sheets in the oven, 2 on the top rack, one on the bottom. So maybe I did it wrong. Maybe if I had only done 2 sheets it would have been fine. Who knows!
If you don't have a speed control on your fan, it is probably blowing too hard and that is why the cupcakes turned out that way- I had the same problem with one of my ovens.
I also have a dual-fuel convection oven/range and my manual specifically says not to bake cakes using the convection fan 
but in the bakeries I have worked in we made all our layers in a convection oven with no problems! For my home oven I have discovered that cakes bake more evenly if I lower the temp 30-50 degrees and bake thinner layers. Otherwise the outside of the cake gets a little more brown and tough than I like before the inside is completely baked. Things definitely bake quicker !
Amber
I just got a new Frigidaire range with a double oven and one is convection, I LOVE IT, everything cook so evenly and the cakes are very moist, I cook my cakes at 325 and they still take less time than with my old regular oven.
Most bakers prefer electric because it heats more evenly, but I have used both with success. "True" convection requires electric because it has a separate heating element in the fan- but only the extreme high-end home ovens are equipped this way. If you're getting an oven with a range attached, a dual fuel is a good option- that way you can cook with gas and bake with electric!
Amber
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%