Electric Vs. Gas Stove...the Difference
Decorating By nickymom Updated 8 Sep 2009 , 1:17am by sleepy33
I have a gas stove and I'm not sure if this is why this is happening but eveytime I try to bake 2 cakes (of the same size) at the same time they cook unevenly.....like for example the cake on the left side of stove it's right side is higher and the cake on the right side of the stove it's left side is higher.......also the edges of all my cakes seem to get done before the rest of the cake does, making the edges slightly crusty....
Is this because of my gas stove or my pans? I use the wilton pans.
Baking more than one cake at time for me it seems the heat gets distributed differently. Rotating the cakes should be done. And if your cakes are baking at different heights it may be, the stove is unlevel or the batter itself got poured in eneven...For the crunchy sides, that happens to me when my cake bakes over the edges...I cut that part off anyway. But putting less batter in the pan works...but sometimes I misjudge and the cake bakes over.
Funny you bring up gas vs. electric; I recently moved to a house with a gas oven. I've always had electric. I couldn't figure out why I've been having such a hard time with some of my tried-and-true recipes, but I've really been struggling, especially with cakes being gummy on top or not done in the center/sinking. I think it's because the gas heat is all in the bottom of the oven, and there's no coil like in an electric oven to heat from above. I'm afraid there's not going to be much I can do to fix that problem, though. Sorry, that's off the topic of your post, but just for input I haven't noticed the issue you're talking about when I bake two cakes in my gas oven.
Funny you bring up gas vs. electric; I recently moved to a house with a gas oven. I've always had electric. I couldn't figure out why I've been having such a hard time with some of my tried-and-true recipes, but I've really been struggling, especially with cakes being gummy on top or not done in the center/sinking. I think it's because the gas heat is all in the bottom of the oven, and there's no coil like in an electric oven to heat from above. I'm afraid there's not going to be much I can do to fix that problem, though. Sorry, that's off the topic of your post, but just for input I haven't noticed the issue you're talking about when I bake two cakes in my gas oven.
I have that issue too....
I had that problem Until I bought a New Gas Stove, How Old is your stove? And When I bake two cakes, at a time, which I do all the time, I put one on the top and one on the bottom, and rotate them half way in the baking process, and my cakes are fine
also try bake even strips. I always use them, bake at 320 degrees and use the convection feature of my gas oven (the fan circulates the air) and never have a problem. HTH
Well, let me know if you find out any way to solve the problem of them not getting very done on top/in the middle! I was excited moving in to this house because I've always heard that gas stoves are great to cook on. Well, I do love how fast the burners heat up and cool down, but the burners aren't hot enough or something. I can cook things ok for the most part, but I cannot get a big pot of water to boil to save my life! I haven't had a decent plate of pasta in months. And then this issue with the baking in the oven. So much for gas, I say! It's a relatively new Magic Chef stove, seems like it should work great.
Educate me if I'm wrong, but when baking, the heat is generated from the bottom of the oven, not from the top. The coils at the top are used when you are broiling something. I don't think any of us broil our cakes! 
Anyway, that's what I was taught. Educate me, please, if I've been living in ignorance.
Hmm... well, I'm not 100% sure. I know when I baked in my old electric oven, the top coil would be hot, and I sure enough burned the top of my hand on it a few times taking things out of the oven! Course, now I can't go check it out, since I obviously don't have access to the oven any more. Maybe it was just that oven. I really don't know, it definitely seemed like my electric oven was hot all the way through to the top (whether or not that includes the coil, I guess), where this gas oven is definitely much, MUCH hotter at the bottom, and just kinda warmish at the top. From what I've been reading, it seems like possibly I need to increase the temperature I'm baking at. I know, I know, I need to get the thermometer and check for sure. For now, I think I'll try cranking it up to 350 and do a few experiments.
Ok, I got curious, so after a bit of searching, I found this in the Q&A section of an appliance part/repair site:
"Why does the oven take too long to cook? Often the oven uses both the bake and broil elements to pre-heat or cook. Sometimes the bake element can go bad and only the broil element is heating the food, cooking the top, but leaving the bottom food undercooked, and vice versa with the broil element, the food on bottom will cook faster and the food on top is undercooked."
Which makes sense, right? You think it would provide a much more uniform heat if both coils were heating.
I have a gas stove in MI and an electric one in FL. My cakes bake OK in the gas oven, but cupcakes do not come out level, even though when you put a level on top of the stove, it is level???
sleepy33,I also think that it takes a long time for a pot of water to boil on the gas stove, it never really comes to a full rolling boil, like on an electric one. I try to help that along by starting with good hot salted water (for pasta), and putting a lid on it. After it does boil and I put in my pasta, I also put the lid back on, until it comes back to a boil. I will take my electric stove and oven any day, even though a lot of professional chefs think gas is the way to go. 
Well, let me know if you find out any way to solve the problem of them not getting very done on top/in the middle! I was excited moving in to this house because I've always heard that gas stoves are great to cook on. Well, I do love how fast the burners heat up and cool down, but the burners aren't hot enough or something. I can cook things ok for the most part, but I cannot get a big pot of water to boil to save my life! I haven't had a decent plate of pasta in months. And then this issue with the baking in the oven. So much for gas, I say! It's a relatively new Magic Chef stove, seems like it should work great.
I love gas for the cooktop, hate it for baking in the oven - so uneven with the temperature...
Sleepy, are you on mains gas or bottled gas? Sounds like your pressure may be low so not enough gas is coming through - might be worth having it checked out, especially if it's only just been fitted.
Bunsen- well, it's an old house, and we're renting it for a year from a professor who's teaching overseas. So it's been installed awhile. It's on city gas; I called the company and asked if they had any thoughts. They sent someone out the same day, as they said it can be dangerous if there's a lot of gas going into the house, but not enough coming out in your appliances (like what might be apparent if the burner isn't hot). The technician said that everything appeared to be fine from the gas main going into the house, and that any further issues would be something I'd have to hire a plumber out to investigate, with regard to my stove and the regulator attached to it. I think he said regulator anyway. I need to get hold of the owner/landlord and find out what they think; I'm sure not paying for a plumber. Thanks very much for the input though, I spent a couple of hours Googling why the burners weren't hot, should've known I could have just come here to CC for all the answers! 
linedancer- yes, that's the only way I can get the water to 'boil' as well, and only in small amounts. I got an awesome Calphalon stockpot with the pasta cooker insert for a wedding gift, and there's no way I can get that big ol' pot to even simmer, even if I only put a tiny bit of water in it. Which I discovered after spending several hours making homemade pasta one day, only to find I couldn't boil water!! New hubby had to talk me down from that meltdown!!
linedancer, it is not a good idea to fill your pot with hot water, only cold and then heat it up. I read somewhere that there are many more harmful trace elements in your hot water pipe than in your cold water pipe.
That being said, I have a GE profile gas stove with convection oven. I love it. One burner on stovetop is high output, I can boil a huge pot of water very quickly. As for the oven, heat rises so it shouldn't matter about the coil on top. I wouldn't make the temp higher, I would think that would make your problem worse. Have the temp checked though, that may be the problem. HTH
I use water from my insta-hot to boil water, even though I have a high output burner. I always remember to boil the water when I'm already supposed to be cooking the pasta, corn, whatever, so using the hot water helps. This is also a great idea when cooking large soups.
Indydebi, I have double ovens, GE Profile, in my home kitchen, about 6-7 years old. Both the top and bottom elements heat up when baking. I bear the scars to prove it!!
Whew, I'm glad I'm not going crazy! I bet we have matching scars. 
All of the reasons mentioned above are why, when I remodeled my kitchen, I decided to go with a gas cook top and separate electric double ovens!!
I've had a gas range, and baking in the oven was a b*%&^!
I paid dearly to have gas run to my kitchen for the cooktop, but it's been sooo worth it! Especially when the power goes out
Just chiming in to add that in our new house we have a gas stove/range and I LOATHE it! Apparently when they installed it, the back "foot" is lower than all of the others, so all of my cakes bake at a slant! The gas line is short, so we can't pull it out from the wall to fix the foot! (don't know how we'll tackle the gas line issue when we ever get a new stove!)
At our old house, we had purchased a radiant burner type oven/stove top - it was awesome, heated water, etc super fast, baked evenly - a dream! I really miss it but I'm too cheap (and too broke, hehe) to pay someone to change out our plug to allow for electric oven instead of gas in the new house...and our electric was MUCH easier to clean the stove top than the gas, the gas is a PITA to clean!
I much prefer using a gas oven and burners. I hate electric. I have never had problems with the gas appliances. I had electric in my Home Ec classroom, and I could never get used to them.
I think it's time to have your oven checked and calibrated. It sounds like something is wrong with it.
I have no problems getting a big pot of water to boil on the gas burner.
I have had both gas and electric in my cooking lifetime. I much prefer the electric - steady, even heat. My DH wants a gas cooktop, however. Feels he could control the temp better (he does most of the stovetop and outdoor cooking). I do most of the roasting and baking, so I prefer the electric oven. Maybe on the remodel it will result in a gas cooktop (ouch, get the propane line in for thi$! and electric oven.
Another gas oven hater here.
I'm used to baking with electric convection ovens. My baking suffered too when we moved to a house with a gas oven. Sinking, over cooked, under cooked, crusty, lopsided - you name it! Then I thought of using oven thermometers and voila problem solved. I hung 3 to measure the temperature in different spots in the oven. Turns out my oven was running hot.
Whereas with my convection/electric ovens, I could bake on multiple levels, now I only use one rack for baking. The most it can accommodate is two 9" pans side by side so if I need cake bigger than 9", I have to bake it in two batches (pain!). And cookies, ugh! One tray at a time. Also my oven's lowest cooking temp is 300 deg F. If I want to make dacquoise or meringues I have to prop the oven door a tiny bit open with a wooden spoon. After a year of living here I think I've finally gotten the hang of this oven.
I love my electric ovens! But I despise the really cool-looking electric glass cooktop with all those fancy beeping buttons that configure burners in an amazing array of shapes/sizes. What good is that if you can't instantly control heat?
I haven't been able to make a decent batch of fudge in the 6-7 years since I remodeled my kitchen. Foolish decision, one I will reverse someday... after I get two complete sets of round/square/oblong Magic Line pans and an airbrush system!!
Kitchenkat- that's a smart idea. I think I will get a couple of thermometers when I go to the store. I know for sure that dang oven is much hotter at the bottom than the top, and I have a feeling it varies a lot from one side to the other as well. They're not very expensive, I'll just get a couple so I can monitor multiple oven areas.
Grandmom- have you seen the dual fuel ranges? Gas cooktop with an electric oven... best of both worlds!
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