Preheating oven?

[loveshack]

How long exactly do I preheat the oven for baking?
The recipe says 'preheat to 180 degrees' ,how long before I bake do I start heating?How do I know it's enough?
My cakes never come out right :crying:

[the_queen]

Some ovens will have a little light, it switches off when it's fully heated properly.

Otherwise, give it a good 10 minutes or so.

[JimJamsMum]

You should have an indicator light on your oven. When the light goes out, the oven is up to temperature. How long it takes to get to temperature depends on the oven. I usually turn the oven on as I start assembling the ingredients and it is hot enough by the time I am ready to use it.

In what ways don't your cakes turn out?

[Chickadee]

You should have an indicator light on your oven. When the light goes out, the oven is up to temperature.
If you don't have an indicator light, you can buy a cheap temperature indicator & put it in the oven. They're available from any kitchen shop.

Gas oven's heat up much faster than electric ovens.

Also, are you using the right temperature scale? Looks like your recipe is from overseas if it says 180 oC. Most recipes in Australia (and temperature gauges on ovens) use fahrenheit - oF. 180 oC is 350 oF.

[loveshack]

Also, are you using the right temperature scale? Looks like your recipe is from overseas if it says 180 oC. Most recipes in Australia (and temperature gauges on ovens) use fahrenheit - oF. 180 oC is 350 oF.

The recipe is from the women's weekly.I've seen celsius temperatures in most magazines and tv cooking shows! The temperature scale on my oven is in celsius.I'll try again.:fingerscrossed:

[MrsDribbleDrawers]

Most recipes in Australia (and temperature gauges on ovens) use fahrenheit - oF. 180 oC is 350 oF.

:confused::confused: Australia has been using decimal currency and degrees centigrade for over forty years!! Recipes are NEVER in farenheit!!

OP - leave it for at least ten minutes if you don't have a light indicator, as a pp said...

[Tam-I-Am]

I think maybe Chickadee got it backwards (you'll have to excuse her - she's Canadian :p :laughing:) Recipes from America, Canada, the UK etc are often in farenheit - most in Australia are in Celcius.

The other thing to remember with fan forced ovens is that you always set them 20 degrees cooler than the recipe calls for.

[Butterflies&Hurricanes]

My mum taught me to bake... she is the queen of baking!!
Here are some golden rules for success...

Always have the oven to temp before placing cake in the oven (indicator light should go off) Fan forced is usually a different temp but a lot of recipes will say what it should be for fan forced.
Measure properly. If it says 1 cup of flour then measure a cup of flour . and use a proper measuring cup, not a mug or the like. Baking powder etc. must be correct because the whole recipe is based on ratio of flour to baking powder etc for success.
Take care when mixing, folding etc. If it says beat then beat. If it says fold then fold. beating instead of folding can seriously ruin your cake.
use the right size tin. If you use a smaller or bigger tin than state then the time it takes to bake will alter. the bigger the tin the longer it will take to cook in the middle etc.
NEVER open the oven door in the middle of baking. Wait until the time is up. Also, avoid bumping or knocking the oven whilst baking cos it can ruin the cake too.
Cant think of any others right now... If you let me know what exactly is wrong with your cakes then I can try figure out what is going wrong... (e.g. sinking, dry, sticky etc)

[Chickadee]

I think maybe Chickadee got it backwards (you'll have to excuse her - she's Canadian :p :laughing:) Recipes from America, Canada, the UK etc are often in farenheit - most in Australia are in Celcius.

Oops. you're all right, I got it backwards. Sorry if I confused anyone!
:o