Ok, I have been doing business with a small cafe in my area and the business has been good. They are allowing me to use their kitchen in exchange for putting some of my products in the cafe. Well they have 2 convection ovens and baking in them is very difficult. My cupcakes which are usually bake very beautiful are coming out HORRIBLE! The blowers in the oven are blowing the batter and the cups and the cupcakes are coming out lopsided, it is a real mess. Has anyone had this experience before? Aare there any suggestions any of my fellow ccers can offer to help me fix this problem?

Oooooh - That sucks!! I have this problem when I bake at my MIL's - crazy convection ovens!!!! I put a rack directly above where my cupcakes will be (middle rack) and place a large cookie sheet or pizza pan on the rack above. Helps with all that crazy air blowing around! HTH with the lopsidedness as well! Good luck!

I saw this on Ace of Cakes once but sorry, I don't have any experience with convection ovens. I'm interested to hear the other posts though.

Can you turn the convection off? I know on my oven you can, turns the fans off. Depends on the oven though.

I have a double oven - one is convection but I can turn it off. I never bake with convection - I only cook/roast with it.

No Cheriej and Spectra you can't turn the convection off. On my oven at home I can turn the convection on and off but at the cafe they can't turn off the convection. They have 2 commercial convection ovens. When I was in culinary arts school we used the convection oven for baking but we never made cupcakes. We did make muffins in it but muffin batter is sturdier than cake batter and we didnt have the excessive blowing problem. We also turned our bake goods half way through baking....we tried the turning trick with the cupcakes @ the cafe but it didn't work

hmmm . . . I bake cakes in convection, but not cupcakes. What brand and model of oven is it? I'm surprised you can't turn off the convection.

this may be a stupid suggestion, but can you cover top of the cupcake pan with foil?

Can you run an aluminum foil collar around the cupcake pan? Might be a down and dirty way around it.

I baked everything in my commercial convection oven including cupcakes and never did the fan "blow" the batter. The only things that would "fly around" were foil or parchment. I'm wondering if the fan might be adjusted? It really should not be blowing that hard to mess up your batter.

lopsided....are you sure its the convection and not in an oven that isn't level. Just a thought

If the fan isn't adjustable, try rotating the pans.

I've also baked in convection ovens for years, and never had a fan blow my batter around. My only suggestion has already been mentioned, I think...put a cookie sheet on the top rack, place the cupcakes below. Strange.

The commercial oven I bake in also has fans that won't turn off. I have to turn my cakes and cupcakes halfway through. Yeah, it's a total pain. I turn cupcakes after about 10 minutes. I turn other cakes at 15 - 25 min. based on the size. I totally hate it but it's the only way I can get around it.

When I had my convectin oven I blocked the fan 1/2 way with foil. There was a 'guard' around it so I wrapped foil around the 'prongs' so it covered about 1/2 of the fan.

Thank you guys so much for all of the suggestions. I'm due to return to the kitchen tomorrow morning so I will be trying out all of your wonderful suggestions and I'm sure something will work. I'm so thankful for the knowledge and experience that my fellow ccers have. I love this site...what a great resource! I will let you guys know what happens when I get back from the kitchen tommorow. Thanks Again!!

I have a commercial oven with a fan and this happened to my cupcakes. They would look like a wave when baked...some even obscene! I googled and googled and found an answer that worked ..for me.

I put one of my backing trays on the rack where it is in the center of the fan. The tray, (for some reason) disrupts the air blowing around and doesn't blow the batter on my cupcakes. I put my cupcakes on the rack above or below that rack. I only do this for cupcakes. I have had perfect cupcakes ever since.

Deb

THANKS Deb!!