# best commercial ovens for cake



## robynlaurel (May 4, 2009)

I make custom cakes in a tiny commercial space with a 60" gas range that throws off a TON of heat and takes up a lot of valuable space. I've been looking at countertop convection ovens, half size, but am scared to spend the money having never used convection before. My concern is that the fans will impede the batter from rising properly, esp. in sponges. I can't seem to find much info from the manufacturers about this, and am looking for guidance from actual people. Can anyone who makes a lot of cake tell me what kind of oven they use? Specific convection brands that have gentle fans or fans that turn off? Or is there another kind of oven I should consider? I don't have any criteria as far as gas vs. electric or stand alone vs. countertop-- just would love to know what you guys think works well. Thank you so much for your thoughts!


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## chefvdub (May 12, 2009)

IMHO convection ovens are the way to go . They cook more evenly and in half the time . You wouldnt have to worry about the fan because it has settings to control the speed. I have used a couple different ones and they all worked the same. Viking makes a really nice one. But im used to using a vulcan. they go for about 4500.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

There's actually a similiar thread in the "Cooking equipment reviews" on this site.

When someone else is footing the bill, I'll opt for deck ovens for pastry and baking any day. For one thing, decks have separate top and bottom controls, and usually heat intenstities as well. This makes the oven extremely flexible for pastry work. True, they are a bit slower but the results are far better.

No oven is perfect, and like every other ovens, convections have their faults. The fans tend to blow the air in one direction, so one side of the pan will brown faster than the other. The doors are large, so every time you open the door, you loose a lot of heat--and this heat goes into your face and warms up the kitchen...

Deck ovens can get pricey, but on the other hand there are no moving parts, so not much goes wrong with them. The doors on convections go first, followed by the burners, then the controls.

If you have the money, get a deck oven


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