The new trend in home-based baking has brought about a number of questions for those who bake cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies and pastries for a living. Today everyone seems to be consumed with thoughts of food, buying specialty food items to enhance their main dishes or add pizazz to that Monday night football gathering.   

If we take an honest look around our community we will notice something is missing? The sagging economy appeared to move out gourmet foods, specialty candies and those out-of-the-box gourmet foods that we brought for special occasions. Luckily the trend for the dynamic is back and more and more foodies are taking it upon themselves to create delicious gourmet treats like double fudge pecan cluster and black currant scones.

The cupcake bakers are even getting into the swing of creating amazingly different frostings like caramel sea salt butter-cream and maple frosting with crunchy bacon bits. There is a need now for home-based bakers to up the stakes and locate ovens that will fulfill their baking needs. A conventional domestic oven can only allow a baker to produce so many products, before looking into a more efficient oven becomes a must. 

Some home-based bakers swear by their conventional ovens, while others insist a convection oven is the way to go. What is the difference between the two? The main difference between is the way in which the oven transmits heat during the cooking process. While conventional ovens are more popular throughout households in the United States, convection ovens, once found only in commercial environments, have become increasingly popular since they utilizes a fan in the back to circulate the hot air throughout the oven during the cooking process. Some convection ovens, known as "European convection," have a third heating element that is blocked off from the main oven cavity, forcing the fan to push hot air into the oven to ensure the temperature is uniform. 

Another rule concerning convection ovens is that the cooking time is less by five to ten minutes depending on the product being baked. The temperature can also be decreased by approximately 20 percent from the suggested temperature for the recipe and these alterations are made with convection ovens because the temperature remains more consistent throughout the oven cavity. 

A final advantage to home-based bakers in owning a convection oven is despite the fact they are generally more expensive a convection oven costs $600 to $1000 more than a conventional oven their energy use is cut by approximately 20 percent. So if you are home-based baker, operating a full or part-time venture, it may be in your best interest to invest in a convection oven or at least visit your local appliance store for more information about their performance and how it will impact your home bakery business.