Cooking In A Fan-Assisted Oven

[chokkie]

Hi folks, wonder if you can help .... we gave a friend of ours my chocolate shortbread cheesecake recipe and she made it up using her fan-assisted oven. However, on the oven temperatures in the recipe, the cake burned badly and she had to chuck it in the bin.

I suggested to her that she should turn down the heat a little for each stage of the baking (about 15 minutes on a higher temperature and then 40-45 minutes on a lower temperature.

The cake ingredients are quite expensive, but I am sure she wo uld like to make this cake again ... does anyone know how many degrees C she should turn the oven down to make allowances for the fan assistance.

My mum gave me this recipe, so I suspect that fan-assisted ovens weren't in existence when she used to make this cake, and we don't have a FA oven.

Would be grateful for your help.

Thanks. Chox.

[mallyh]

lower the temperature by 20 degrees

[dannyk13]

Oven temperatures article - All recipes UK allrecipes.co.uk/how-to/49/oven-temperatures.aspx If you have a fan-assisted oven, lower the temperature by 20 degrees C (ie if a recipe gives a temperature of 200 C, lower it to 180 C in a fan-assisted oven).

[Buenchico]

To convert temperatures for non-fan-assisted ovens to those for fan-assisted ones, deduct 20C:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/conversion-guides

[valerieb1254]

If it states 200 degrees.....it's 180 in fan oven.it's always 20 degrees less.

[bednobs]

i actually think it depends on your oven too. I have recently got a new FA oven and previously had one too - the new one keeps burning stuff even though i am using the same setting as befoe

[woofgang]

invest in an oven thermometer, the kind that have a probe on a steel cable. Cheap as chips and very helpful.

[woofgang]

If you want real accuracy, get two!

[diddlydo]

As well as reducing the temp by 20 degrees, you also need to reduce the cooking time - often by quite a lot in my experience. For example, roasties took an hour to roast in my old oven but in the fan-assisted one they only take 35 mins. Keep checking should be the watchword.

[Canary42]

Woofgang - if you get two and they differ - which one do you believe ?

[woofgang]

It actually means you have got three measures, the built in thermostat and the two others. If all three differ markedly then you find out which if either of the other two are correct (use iced water) and return the other one to the shop you got it from! Actually its not a bad move to check the thermometer probes in iced water before you use them.

[Old_Geezer]

Quite right canary; one needs three (or five).

I always put the frozen dinner into my woman's fan combi oven for the full normal time and it comes out fine. If doing proper cooking I'd suggest diddly's advice to check occasionally is the key. I take it that the oven has a glass door ?

[LyndaB]

I have a fan oven and find that not only do I need to reduce the temperature, I need to reduce the cooking time of most things

[chokkie]

Many thanks, folks... i've passed all this on to our friend, and hope that she's going to make another cheesecake using the advice given. Cheers, Chox.