British Expatriate Network

Just made daughters birthday cake.... roll I can cook but I can't bake.

That's probably because measurements have to be so precise in baking where as in cooking you can be much less so.

And also cos American ovens have hot spots and co;d spots more so than brit ovens. We notice it making yorkshire puds. The ones on the front left hand siode of the tray never rise as much.
Still, they can pout a man on the moon, although what consolation that is to a would be baker I don't know roll
Pardon me , we've just done our taxes and I'm in a state of confusion.
Did you know you get taxed on the rebate you got last year? barstewards get you coming and going. o

It's your oven. As proved when the master baker (AKA Stel) came over and produced a sunken concoction last year.

I love the way you still keep trying though - such a good Mummy.. D

I don't bake. I buy premade cakes from the store.

My oven is utterly crap. It's great at roasting a chicken but don't bake worth a poop.

American ovens are no different than British ovens..

Heat is heat. I've never had a problem baking, but as wendl says, baking is simply chemical, so it could be your flour is old, maybe over greasing a pan, not enough air being added etc etc.

Yes the oven is important and one shouldn't rely on the oven thermostat to know the internal temp. Buy a good oven thermometer and do some tests to find out how accurate your oven is, and where. Yes, all ovens have hot spots, but I'd guess the ingredients might be the culprit.

A )

Totally disagree, McZ. It is very common in the UK to have convection ovens or fan assisted ovens, and has been for a very long time. I got my first convection nearly 20 years ago. Here, they are a new thing. Convection ovens stop hot spots. Also, you never see elements explosed in UK ovens and yet they are very common over here. Element exposure, especially in a small oven, creates hot spots.

I have noticed that if you have a small oven that is not convection/fan assisted, baking does not work as well, especially if the elements are exposed. But the bigger ovens allow the distribution of heat better.

You may find a difference between using gas and electric, Zed.

They're also bigger, which can lead to more variation......

I put my baking woes down to the elevation. It's possible to get a reasonable cake at 5,500 feet above sea level, but you'll never get the same results you get at sea level.

I agree with Ben on the oven thing too. I miss my fan assist oven.

There have been convection ovens in the US for years Ben.

I have cooked in all manner of ovens and heat is heat.

If you're cooking or baking with gas, remember gas adds moisture and as such can affect rising.

The trick with baking and help maintain a constant temperature is to maybe invest in a nice thick pizza stone of untreated thick red brick tiles and put them on the bottom rack of an oven.

Once they heat up to the temperature of the oven they will help maintain temperature.

But how expensive have they been? If you can only get them at the high end of the market then I wouldn't say that that means they are available.

And you never needed to put a stone or cook on a stone in the UK. I have bought the cheapest of tins for cakes before and they have worked perfectly regarding how the cake turns out. The only difference has ended up whether I needed to line the tin or not. this is why it is so difficult over here - if you want good results you have to spend a fortune on your equipment! And because cake shops are so cheap (although disgusting the majority of the times until you find one you like) it doesn't make it worth while doing it yourself over here.

Dianey - I miss my old oven too - it was fantastic. If I had known how bad ovens were over here, I would have seen how much it would have cost to convert the damn thing :wink:

Yep, told my wife, but she didn't believe me.

I get this every year.

It's to stop smart folks overpaying their state taxes, getting it back as a refund and not reporting it as income to the feds.

Ovens are not bad over here. That is daft...

I can honestly say I had more problem with pokey British ovens in my time in the Uk both in a professional kitchen and domestic kitchen that it was a joy to have an oven that was both big and useful (and reliable).

As for spending a fortune, I disagree also. Before we bought our home we had a gas cooker from the 1950's that the thermostat had failed and so it ran at one temperature, hence why I found that baking stones are a good idea.

Like I said, if your oven has such terrible fluctuations, simply go to Home Depot, but some untreated flat fire tiles (they hardly cost a thing but they must be untreated) and keep them in your oven.

Then, when you bake and after allowing then oven to come to temperature the brick (or stone) will help maintain a constant temperature.

Andrew :)

So you have never had an oven over here burn the bottom of cookies, when you use the bottom shelf of the oven when using a thin cookie tray?

Maybe we should do a poll wink