Can these settings bake a cake?

Question

I've tried baking so many times with this kind of oven settings but they never work. The exterior of the cake looks fine, but when cut opened, they look as if they were never cooked. The oven doesn't come with bottom heat. I used fan settings (right top) and then turn it on to the top heat fan setting (right bottom) for the last 10mins to brown the cake.

oven settings

I really don't understand at all - are you setting a temp on the oven..or? — rfusca, Feb 28 '12 at 04:30
Cake recipes normally specify a temperature, as rfusca implied. Can your oven not do that? Beyond that, the general principle is "bake it until it's done" - most recipes say something about testing it by poking a toothpick or knife into the center. If the center is uncooked, well, it needs to be cooked longer. — Cascabel, Feb 28 '12 at 04:43
It looks to me like you need to set it to the next symbol up anti-clockwise, which should be a conventional fan oven. You should have no problem baking with that setting at 180ºC/435ºF. — ElendilTheTall, Feb 28 '12 at 07:51

FuzzyChef · Answer 1 · 2017-09-22T18:54:36.840

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You're baking using a convection fan. This generally won't work unless the cake recipe is calibrated for it; you'll end up with a cake which is brown on the outside and raw in the middle (as you did). It's remotely possible that a combination of lowering the temperature and convection would be successful, but I don't have a formula for you.

Suggestions:

If the issue with top heat is that the cake is burning on top before the bottom is done, I would suggest placing a rack above the one the cake sits on, and a cookie sheet on that rack. This will protect the top of the cake from the radiant heat of the element, causing it to cook only from reflected heat off the sides of the oven. This may, however, increase cooking times somewhat so make sure to check cake doneness with a skewer.

Or: Add a baking stone on the rack holding the cake as well (under it), and preheat the stone for 30 min before baking the cake. This will give it some heat from the bottom.

Or: both of the above.

Or: get a new oven. They make fairly nice countertop ovens now which have a bottom baking element.

edited Sep 22 '17 at 18:54

answered Feb 28 '12 at 05:04

FuzzyChef

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I assume you mean *convection* fan? – Aaronut Feb 28 '12 at 13:51
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Yes, it would be hard to bake anything using even the most die-hard fan of conventions. :) – Henrik Söderlund Feb 28 '12 at 15:00
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Hah! Of course, I did mean convection fan. But the mistake is funny enough that I think I'll leave it in place. – FuzzyChef Feb 29 '12 at 06:33
The usual advice for conventional to convection is to reduce the temperature by about 15C to 20C (depending on the source), and check it earlier (it should be done in about the same time, but start checking maybe 25% earlier). – Batman Sep 15 '17 at 20:19
Ok, got another flag on the misspelling, so I removed it. – FuzzyChef Sep 22 '17 at 18:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 15 '17 at 15:30

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try seperating your cake into each layer. instead of one large cake, bake three (1/3) layers so they bake quickly and evenly, and avoid using the fan if you can. 320F is a good cake baking temp [depending on type of cake]

answered Sep 15 '17 at 15:30

StevenXavier

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Can these settings bake a cake?

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