Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Hi mich 1988
I also bake in a fan assisted oven. Most fan assisted oven temperatures are reduced by between 10 or 20 degrees and since not all ovens are the same, it is best to consult the oven manufacturer hand book. I reduce my oven by 20 degrees because it is pretty fierce. Only you know how hot your oven gets so a few experimental temperatures may be necessary until you know how your oven behaves. Recipes give temperatures as a guide and not as a rule. It is up to bakers to accurately access the performance of their equipment. A good oven thermometer will help too, it will enable you to gauge the internal temperature to that of the external dial temperature. If you look here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/baking-the-perfect-cake-why-things-go-wrong, scroll down to the fourth comment, you’ll find a link which discusses oven temperatures and thermometers and which you may find helpful.
Sorry mich 1988
If you’re baking Paul’s moist chocolate cake recipe, the given temperature is 150c for non fan oven, for fan assisted that would be 130c. Paul bakes his cakes for 2 hours without opening the oven door before the full time is up. When I bake this recipe sometimes the cake bakes slightly ahead of time, other times I have to bake on until done. I tend to go how the cake is looking through the glass door and also by smell ( it works for me although not necessarily the right thing to do!). I would suggest try the full 2 hours and see what the result is, most members who have successfully baked the recipe say they have baked for the guide time.
Just about to try making the chocolate cake and found your comments useful as I also have a fan oven. Thanks again
Hi mmcnaught35
There are lots of other useful hints and tips from members in this thread too:
To change page numbers scroll back up in between my comment and the next. Normally numbers would be at the bottom but something went wrong in that thread! Good luck with your bake.
Hi if all the mixture is put into a 10″ square tin how lo ng would the cooking time be in a fan oven. Would it still be the 2 hours as stated or fractionally longer? TIA.
I use a fan oven cooking my cakes, and fot the moist chocolate cake recipe I cook at 130, regardless of shape and size, for exactly 2 hours, and I’ve never had a problem. I frequently cook a batch of different sizes together. The only thing I would advise is to put the smaller cakes on to a lower shelf and the larger ones higher. Hope this helps!
