Ovens

Let me talk more about ovens in this come back post. Even if I am not actively posting here, I still get questions as to the type of oven that I'd recommend. If you are asking for recommendations, I cannot give any specifics. Instead, let me share with you what ovens I have and my experiences with them. You can also read my old post about ovens here. 

Let me start with my first oven which was smaller than the one on this post. It was a tiny electric oven that can only fit a 7"x11" rectangular or 10" round pan. I managed to bake several batches of cupcakes and cakes with that oven. Temperature in these tiny ovens including with the one on my old post are unreliable. You need to have an oven thermometer and constantly monitor and adjust the temperature else it will burn your cakes. However, if your budget is restricted, this is the cheapest kind you can buy.

Then I got this La Germania gas range which has 4 burners and an oven. I so love this oven because it has automatic thermostat control. With that feature, I do not have to worry much about adjusting the temperature of the oven. This intelligent system automatically lowers the fire when temperature gets higher than what is set.

I have had this oven for over 5 years now and this buddy had baked hundreds of cakes and cupcakes. This model comes with only one wire rack but I had bought an additional rack direct from the service center. That way I can bake 2 pans at the same time. The biggest pan this buddy can accommodate is only 12" but I tell you I was able to make a 5-tier wedding cake with 18" base cake using this oven.It took me more than 10 hours to bake the entire batch. Price range for this type of oven starts from P15,000. If you have that budget for oven and you are seriously baking, I suggest don't buy this, but get the commercial type for almost the same price.

This is my new oven from Usabal . There, that's free advertising for them. This is not my first commercial type conventional oven. My first one was from Welldone Industries. It was this size and has thermostat control. I sold it to a dear friend when we went to live in Singapore in 2009. I find it too expensive to buy the same kind now. Welldone sells it now for P40,000. It was P33,000.00 in 2009. This one from Usabal costs less than 20k, believe it or not. The downside... no thermostat control. Thermostat costs an additional 16k if you want it installed. My baking friends swear by this oven so I was compelled to get it. Now, I swear by it. No thermostat? Not a problem. Temperature is pretty stable once you know the correct setting.

I find this oven safer to use also than the one from Welldone. The gas chamber was so designed that your eyebrows will not be charred when accidents happen. I hope you figure out what I mean. What takes 12 hours to bake in my La Germania oven only takes 3-4 hours on this one.

If you have the budget and is looking forward to baking hundreds of cupcakes and brownies in the future, invest in a bigger oven. For now, I am not looking forward to a 12-plate oven. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Happy baking friends!

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