1. Is cake flour the same as "bread flour"?
2. I'm thinking about buying a convection oven. Will the forced air heat make my cakes dry out while baking?

I don't believe that bread flour is the same as cake flour. Not for sure though. On the convection oven, I bought one last year and I really don't like it. I found that it does make my cakes drier and it seems to brown the top and edges much more than than my gas oven.

Thanks for the advice -- sure glad I know that before spending $1500!!

No, they are not the same.

Convections ovens are supposed to drop your baking time by 25% and you are to lower the temperature. Are you doing this?

I'm thinking about getting one. This is the first I've heard bad things about it.

Sorry for asking my silly question.
What is convection oven ?
Is it an electric oven ?
In norway we do not have gas oven. Here we only use the electric one. So that is all I know about.

yep i have lowered the temp. and the baking time. Still have problems with the drieness and the browner edges.

cake flour and bread flour are pretty much oposites.

Cake flour is made from softer gran that contains less gluten, bread flour is made from hard grain taht has more gluten. All purpose is teh happy medium.

My oven can be turned on to convection or used normally. I don't like baking with it on convection, I do like roasting or doing certain dishes with it on convection, but I must admit, I rarely use that function for any baking. Some people like to, just not me.
hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Wow! I've heard so many good things about them until today. HMMMM......

Yes, elin, they are a type of electric oven. I'm not sure how they work, but you lower the temp about 50 degrees (F) [which of course saves money] and you lower the cooking time about 25% [saving even more cash]....

Are they good for other needs such as roasting and baking non-sweets?

Yes they are good for roasting etc. Dawn and they come with a booklet that tells you the best place to place the racks and the items you are cooking according to how many items you have, etc, temperatures etc. there is a fan that circulates the heat, inside the oven.
I tried it twice each for cookies, pies and cakes and I preferred using it like a regular oven for my baking. Now that is not to say that after you play around with it and get used to it, well you might get better results. But you know I am very fussy about even browning and such and often will only bake one cake in the oven if I cannot fit two side by side, I never will put them on different racks because they just don't turn out as perfect. So that is part of it for me. Nitpicking squirrel, that is me, haha!
I have a Jenn-air self-cleaning electric convection oven built-in. Don't know if the make matters or not.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

My sister has a convection oven and doesn't use it to bake cakes because she says it dries them out. I have a gas oven with the convection option. I haven't used the convection for a cake yet but need to try just to see how it does. My book says to set the temp at 25 degrees lower and baking time will be the same or a few minutes shorter. I think the convect works well on roasting because it circulates the heat which aids in the baking process. Convection comes with gas or electric. Elin, you really aren't missing anything. Ü

Hi Dawn, well mine is about 5-7 years old, so that may also have a bearing. Gosh, I wish I had two full size electric ovens, and a huge countertop range, in gas, of course, well I can dream, haha! You know, one of those 6 burner and grill etc, haha. Right now the counter top is two burner with grill that you can change to use as 4 burner and it is electric.
But I can tell you this, of all of the ovens that I have ever had, this is the first one that actually bakes things in the exact recommended times, so it must be dead on, as far as the temperature goes. And it really is so much easier on the old back, having it up and in the wall. And cleaning it, well that is a breeze, I am so impressed with that feature as I really don't like cleaning the oven.
Don't know how expensive they are where you are, but here they are super expensive.
Hugs Squirrelly

That is funny that you mentioned what you were wanting to do Calidawn...

I got a new oven yesterday! I had an electic counter-top range (I hated it), also a built in oven that was ONLY 19" wide!! Bearly large enough for a lasagna pan! I don't know how I've been baking cake in that thing! The new oven I bought is BIG!!! Don't know the size, LOL. It's an electric Kenmoore, self-cleaning. My hubbies friend came over this morning & removed my counter-top range & put the new oven in it's place. It looks perfect!! He also kept the cabinets intact so now I have a an extra piece of counter top wider then the range!! Don't know where I'm going to put it because I already have a island countertop in my kitchen. I might put it in my spare bedroom where I keep all my cake boxes & such.

I plan on baking my first cake in it tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait!!

I wonder if you used the convection oven, and covered the cake with foil, if it would still dry out. Trouble is....you wouldn't know if it was done or burning or sinking.... sounds like our good 'ole electric/gas oven are still the best!

Do they make digital ones? I think my dial is way off. I need to go oven shopping, but my fiance is moving in his things too and now I have two ovens! yeay!

Yes, they do make digital electric ovens (if that's what you were talking about sunlover)! I have one that I got 6 months ago--it is wonderful! It has so many options I haven't even used yet(you can set the oven to start cooking even when you aren't at home!)

About the convection oven, when I was taking Wilton courses my instructor said that she didn't recommend baking cakes in them. She had a convection oven but never used it for her cakes.

Hmm, wonder if I can talk my fiance into buying me a digital one! Do you find it to be more accurate in temperature than the dial ones?

I never realized how much my oven temperature fluctuated until I bought that thermometer. That $2 thing has caused me too much anxiety!!

I can't wait to try the other oven, but its sitting in my garage right now.

Well, I have read about a few problems with digital thermometers not really being accurate on the new stoves. Apparently even though there are guarantees, sometimes when the oven thermometer says the oven is at 350F and ready, it really isn't so people end up having to buy an oven thermometer and insert it in the oven or figure out how long after it says it is at the temperature, that it actually is. There were some posts about this on Wilton, that Jeanne G was part of.
Covering a cake with foil, well not a good idea, partly because when it rises, it will stick to the foil and also because the foil reflects back heat onto the cake and may overcook the cake. When this is useful is when you have a cake in the over when the sides are cooked enough, but the centre isn't, and you just cover the edges with foil.
With a convection oven, well you are supposed to be able to bake on all three shelves at the same time. You can, but I find to a varying degree of browning on the lower two shelves, even when following manufacturer's instructions. Now it isn't that they do not cook, they do, but I do not find that the browning is as even and I am super fussy about things like that.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

I have a GE model digital and it is wonderful. The temperature is definitely accurate!

Sorry, I wasn't clear here, I am not talking about the separate thermometers, I meant the actual oven thermostat, couldn't think of that word when I posted, geesh, I have to get more sleep. I meant that there has been a lot of bad press about the digitally controlled thermostats in the ovens, not the separate thermometers.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Geesh Dawn, now don't be tempting fate, I hope you knocked on wood when you said that! Everytime I say something like that, it happens and I am not usually superstitious!
I don't think you can bake on a hotplate, so watch out!
Hugs Squirrelly

hehehehe- I know! I'm the same way-


Hot plates: Once during a black out, I baked a lasagna (fro scratch) and a frozen pizza ON TOP of my kerosene heater (the kind with a flat top)....

Can't stop me!! hehehehe

Heehee, creative cooking!
Hugs Squirrelly

I guess I'm in the minority, but I love my convection oven! Everyone raves about how moist my cakes are, and they bake up so evenly. I would never bak a cake in another oven! I do bake at 325 thought.