I know it sounds silly that I write an entire post on this but check these stats out:
– Since I started blogging, I have received 134 emails in total, with questions, comments, suggestions, etc
– 88 of them are baking-related questions
– 32 of them asked oven-related questions
– 18 of them are about pre-heating an oven
So, how do we pre-heat an oven. Its really very simple, in fact too simple, which is probably why many people have questions about it.
2 Steps to Pre-Heat your Oven
Step 1: Remove everything from the oven except the oven racks. Position them in the middle (where I leave them by default unless the recipe specifies otherwise). Turn on the oven and set the temperature to what the recipe specifies. Don’t worry, nothing will explode! (Been there, feared that)
For eg: if it says “bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C / 350F” then that means you should turn your oven on to 180C / 350F. If your oven uses Gas, then there will be gas marks on the oven, just go online to get a conversion from centigrade or fahrenheit to gas mark.
Step 2: In most ovens, there will be a light or a “ping” indicator that changes colour or makes a ping noise when the oven has reached the desired temperature. This should take roughly 10-15 mins depending on temperature so turn on the oven mid-way through the preparation steps.
Most recipes call that as the first step but I usually find that too early so I do it mid-way through the preparation of the dough or batter or whatever.
That’s it! Once your oven is pre-heated, place your item in and bake till done!
But wait, I hear some of you saying that your oven doesn’t have a temperature knob. My mom has been using one of those for over 30 years. There’s only an on-off button and absolutely nothing else, not even a light that goes green or orange. Its still okay, you can bake beautifully in this oven too. Just make sure you turn on the oven for a good 10 mins before placing the batter/dough in it to bake. Keep an eye on the time (as mentioned in recipe) and also the appearance of the baked item. For a cake, make sure you check if its rising, you can also try inserting a skewer to see if its coming out clean. If you need to, stop the oven for a bit, check and then re-start if its not done. Just make sure you are quick about it.
If you have any further questions, leave a comment and I will do an FAQ post 🙂
Hii Nags,
I baked using Aluminum foil trays…my cake came out nice and soft…Ur banana cake was the star of my Christmas cooking….no brown bottoms this time 🙂
I think anyone who has no baking tins can try this…they are convenient and the cake come out easily from the mold…u can use them to store the cake too…
I used the mixie to bet a smooth batter of butter,sugar and egg mixture since I was baking twice the quantity…this also aided in making the batter smoother (got this from one of your previous posts)…Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing Ranjeetha 🙂 I use aluminium foil when I need to carry a cake or brownies for a potluck. Super convenient!
hi nags,
I tried the one banana bread recipe and followed ur tips on pre-heating for 10min. My cake tasted so gud but I had a small problem….the bottom of the cake was dark (almost black)- I had to carefully slice off the bottom to make it look and taste good. Can you give me some tips on how to prevent this? I even tried lining my tray with baking sheet to prevent this but it didn't make much of a difference.
Usually people have the tops turning dark or burning, hardly ever the bottom. I think its because there's too much heat there. try positioning your tray on the middle rack and also, if your oven has a setting to turn off the bottom heat, try that. each oven is different so you may need to work with it a bit 🙂 hope it helps!
Thank you so much for this post.Its really useful for me as I have not yet baked cakes in oven.
I start pre-heating about halfway through mixing the batter. I've found that in my convection oven – Morphy Richards 35lit – keeping the cake trays on the top rack helps best.
Also, to get your cake to rise evenly (not form a dome) cut an old towel into strips, soak the strips in water, wring the excess water out and tie it tightly around your cake pan. The cake comes out even at the top and pulls apart from the sides. Makes it a LOT easier for icing! (especially if you're doing a layer cake.)
that;s a great tip! i wonder what the scientific explanation for this is, though. will be interesting to know.
Hello Nags…..
I really enjoy reading your posts…..they are so encouraging and the recipe always seems simple….it may be too soon to ask but would you be able to share any link which would help me with the basics for Cake decoration…?
Nags, How do you determine the time for pre-heating in a conventional micorwave oven. How many minutes should i heat the oven in high.
kamitha, i am not much of a cake decorating expert but i am sure you can find tons of them if you do a search on google.