Preheating ovens - necessary or not?
My mom always preheated the oven, and following her example for many years I did the same. Then I read somewhere that with modern ovens it isn't necessary. So I quit doing it with the one at my apartment.
Then I moved back to my mom's and am using her oven which is about 50 years old but still works fine. It runs hot, I've noticed, so for cakes I go 25 degrees lower. I was having trouble with some cakes for my class last spring baking too quickly on the outside (I think it was the 10" round) and lowered the temp even more at my instructor's advice. (I need to get or make some better baking strips too.)
Really I'm just curious though if anyone else goes ahead and puts a cake in a non-preheated oven, or if I am a maverick on that, LOL. I can see not preheating is OK for cooking but wonder if it really makes a difference with baking cakes.
Then I moved back to my mom's and am using her oven which is about 50 years old but still works fine. It runs hot, I've noticed, so for cakes I go 25 degrees lower. I was having trouble with some cakes for my class last spring baking too quickly on the outside (I think it was the 10" round) and lowered the temp even more at my instructor's advice. (I need to get or make some better baking strips too.)
Really I'm just curious though if anyone else goes ahead and puts a cake in a non-preheated oven, or if I am a maverick on that, LOL. I can see not preheating is OK for cooking but wonder if it really makes a difference with baking cakes.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eileen S on
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I always preheat my oven and, I believe as a result, have never had a problem with cakes coming out o.k. Just my opinion, just my oven (which IS about 12 years old), and the way I was taught. It only takes my oven 10 minutes to heat anyway so why not just start it when I'm gathering my ingredients? I also use an oven thermometer to make sure it's the right temp before putting my cakes in.
Also - as a side note - I recently purchased a box of Duff Goldman's cake mix and it says specifically on the box that "Preheating your oven is NOT optional in baking." So, if a pro like that says to preheat my oven, I'll assume he knows what he's talking about. :)
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Cintron on
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I was never too good at science but I know that you're supposed to bake cakes immediately after the batter is prepared, and not let them sit around, because the leaveners in the batter will get to work immediately but they won't be working at the right temperature. I'll assume that putting raw batter into a cold oven would let those leaveners begin working at odd temperature intervals - first at room temp, then at slightly above, then at slightly above that, and so on, until the oven temperature normalizes at the setting that you selected, which takes a good 5 minutes or more for most ovens. So if you're baking a 6" round that only takes about 20 minutes to bake through, that seems like it's going to be about 25% baked at the wrong temperature - like I said, I'm no genius at the science (or math, for that matter!) but I think there's gotta be a reason why every recipe advises us to preheat the oven before we begin measuring out the flour. I think I read in the Cake Mix Doctor to let your oven preheat for 10 minutes before baking any cake.
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Permalink Reply by Serena Baumea on
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I still preheat and my oven is only about 8 years old. I have baked my cakes at 325 degrees instead of 350 for years. I have read that not all oven thermostats run at the temp set and to use an oven thermomiter. This is to make sure your oven is running at the temp you are setting it. I have checked mine but don't keep the the thermomiter in my oven. Hope that helps.
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Permalink Reply by jeri c on
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I always preheat. If you do not the cake usually will not bake as even... at least with my oven!
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Permalink Reply by Tus Dulces Ideas on
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well i not a pro making cakes but i like to prove everything and i made the same question few months ago and try to make few cakes without preheating, my oven is very old and the difference was notorious,the dont bake good, cracks easily and get bumps on the middle , even the taste was diferent like if the cake dosnt made so well so im definitly still preheating my oven since then.
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Permalink Reply by Bunny Flowers on
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I'm going to try it! After all, it is only a few minutes' difference, it might make a better cake. I can always do the non-preheating thing with stuff like casseroles, if I'm out to pinch pennies... they are more forgiving than cakes, LOL
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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on
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Cakes as well as other baked good have to bake at a certain temperature so the leaveners can work properly. If the oven is cold then the heat wont be sufficient to "Push" the leavener to work. Chemically they produce gas from the reaction to acids in the batters. The heat acts as a catalyst or accelerator to the reaction to make it work faster so the gas is produced quickly. The cake rises and is ligut in texture. If this happenes too slowly the cake will end up like a hockey puck...not good.
The other thing is that if you use the preheat setting on your oven and not the bake setting, the oven preheats very quickly, it is very hot and usually both elements turn on. If your cake is in the oven at this time you will burn the outside and the inside wont cook very well.
If you are baking a cake larger than 9" you dont need to lower the temperature, you need to place a greased flower nail in the center upside down in the pan and then pour the batter into the pan. The nail conducts the heat to the center and the cake bakes evenly.
I hope this helps.
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