We're in the process of getting our store front together. I see convection ovens all the time in the TV shows. Just wanted to know if anyone had any insight regarding performance or preferences. Is there hot spots? Can you use each rack and have the cakes bake evenly? We currently use a regular residential oven to bake all our cakes, but we can only bake on the top rack because it won't bake even if we add cakes to the lower levels at the same time. Basically takes us forever to bake cakes. I hear revolving ovens are the best to have but we don't have the funds for that. We are still just starting off. Is there a certain brand I should be looking for? I see that Blodgett is the most notable brand. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I have a convection oven, but it is not a commercial one. I purchased it at lowes for $1400 (including installation). It is a true convection, so it has 3 heating elements (top, bottom and behind the fan so the same temp air is blown into the oven). I love it. I can back a 4 tier cake (12" round, 10" round, 8" round, 6" round) in less than 2 hours since I can bake on all 3 racks.

I have had a commercial gas Blodgett oven for the past 21 years now. I just love it. I have never had a problem with it and it bakes very evenly. I have used it with 4 racks inside baking several cakes on each rack and they all came out beautifully. I would highly recommend a Blodgett. If the recommended oven temperature is 350 degrees, I bake at 300 degrees. You may have to experiment with your oven temperature.

Do the blodgett ovens need ventilation? Will I need to set up duct work to use it in my kitchen?

ALL commercial ovens in a commercial kitchen inspected by your local county health department require ventilation. Not only do you need duct work over your oven for out take of air, you will need intake air coming into your kitchen too. Also, when my kitchen was inspected by the health department, they used some kind of a hand held meter that determined the amount of air being drawn out of the kitchen over the oven. Mine passed inspection, but you need to make sure that the draw of air over the oven is sufficient enough to pass inspection.

Contact your local county health department and they will be able to give you all the information you need to pass inspection.

Convection ovens have a smaller footprint than deck ovens so I think that's why they are more popular. For cakes and pastries I prefer deck ovens - gas or electric - because the baking is more even and there's no danger of batter blowing sideways with the force of air. Also, in all the convection ovens I have ever used, each one had its quirks and hot spots.

Blodgett has a great reputation. They make both deck and convection ovens and their tech help is excellent.

One thing I miss after closing the shop was my big comm'l convection ovens. I could bake 3 wedding cakes at the same time in one hour. Gawd, it was awesome!!!!!

I have a Blodgett in my garage ready to be installed in my new building. I anticipate having to buy more pans!