Oven temps for fan assisted

boydE

Hi all

I just made banana cake and it was overcooked, the oven temp was 180c, i have a fan assisted and it never had a time for that.
so is there a rule of thumb for fan assisted temperatures , ie drop it down by 20c or something?

Patchwork_Quilt

In my fan-assisted oven, I take 160C to mean Gas Mark 4 or medium - the kind of temperature that I use to cook a banana cake or any kind of sponge. Also good for heating things up again and a fairly slow casserole.

For baked spuds and oven chips, 180C.

Pastry and so forth is 170C or about Gas Mark 5 - hotter than usual but not crispy.

If you see what I mean.

Shortbread and slow cooked casseroles go in at 140C.

Hope this helps you.

Diflower

About the same here I think. I used to think 10 degrees, but if you look on food packs when they give fan instructions it tends to be 20 deg lower.
Also if a recipe says eg. 20-30 mins, 20 is usually enough.

Mind you, chickens and joints of meat often take at least as long as they 'should'.

BB1984

I usually set mine to 10 deg lower, but keep an eye on it as it usually is about 20-25% quicker as well.

BB

jcr16

i don't think i generally reduce the temp. unless i'm so used to it i just do it by second nature now.

however i do have the option to turn the fan off.

but i personally have found cooking by gas fan assisted is nice than electic fan assisted. i always burnt stuff when we had electric. never got the hang of it. lol

Doingmybest2bgoodhurrah

I generally reduce the temperature by at least 20 degrees, but also I try not to put things at the very top of the oven. Also, I use the oven light a lot to keep an eye on things so they don't over-do.

Cakes are always a problem for me. I've had standard electric ovens,gas & now fan-assisted & I'd say the fan assisted causes me the most problems cake-wise. For me, if I try a new one I note down beside the recipe what temp/oven position I used for next time.

Also, Both my ovens are quite old, so I'm not sure if my temp dials are strictly accurate. It can be a bit hit & miss at times, but its fab for doing oven chips, roasts, pies & pasties. I suppose you could say there are strengths & weaknesses, but try to stay close & keep an eye on things when trying a new recipe. x

psso

When first married I had a gas cooker so cakes were usually done on gas 4.
Moved here and no gas so had to get a `leccy one - cakes done at 180 then got a new one with fan oven and burnt everything. Very demoralising until I found out I was supposed to drop the temps by 20 degrees, so cakes are now done at 160 on middle shelf and always come out fine. All recipes are now down 20 deg and seem to be OK.

PasturesNew

I knock 20 degrees off the temperature and 20% off the time .... at that time I check and see if it needs a few more minutes.

[Deleted User]

I don`t think that there is a rule. I am in a new house with a small fan oven and it burned my cakes and I have had fan ovens for 20 years so I bought an oven thermometer and sure enough I had to turn the temperature down by 10 degrees. Then next day I made another cake and it was a cold day outside but not in and this time I had to add 10 to the cookbook temperature. My belief is that the voltage changes accoring to the need for electricity as supplied by the national grid. I will always use a thermometer for longer cooking cakes from now on.