Stupid Oven

[Heaven]

I hate the stupid oven in this house!! Every time I cook something it gets burnt on the bottom. Like a cake for example, it can be far from cooked but burnt on the bottom!! Ahh...I've tried putting it on a lower heat and stuff. Mum says I should put a folded newspaper under it on the rack and sit the tin on top. Apparently that's what you do with fruit cake, I wouldn't know, I don't like it.
But I'm scared the newspaper would catch on fire!!
Any ideas?

[Indadhanu]

Grrr! How annoying! I know just how you feel. What kind of oven do you have? Ours has the element on the bottom, which I wasn't used to when we moved in and I managed to burn EVERYTHING! I had to learn to cook things a lot slower than I normally would with a top element or fan-forced oven.

I don't support putting any type of paper in the oven (unless you are lining a tray with grease-proof... but make sure the edges are trimmed!) because I have had oven fires... more than I can count!

(Oh, and I'm a pretty good cook so all this isn't because I'm a disaster in the kitchen LOL!)

ETA: Just remembered, ages ago (when we first moved in) my MIL suggested to be to cook out muffins/cakes etc in a waterbath to distribute the heat evenly along the bottom and sides, I haven't tried it but if you do let me know how it works!!!!!

Also, and this is going to sound obvious so sorry if it is, but put things on the highest shelf possible. Also, work out where the hottest part of the oven is (front/back/sides)... Our oven is the opposite to all other ovens I have had and gets extremely hot at the front (when I cook roast potatoes the front ones cook faster) so maybe work out where its hottest and put the cake where its a bit cooler.

[Heaven]

Yes it has the element on the bottom too!! Ahh!! It sucks!

[Muppity]

Are there different settings that you can use. My oven has a dial that you can select just the top element (or the bottom one). Also, is it fan forced? The fan should be distributing the heat a bit more evenly so maybe check that out.

Also, this may sound a little silly but is it possible that the element at the bottom should have a cover that has been removed at some stage?

My Mum also used to put paper under fruit cakes but she used to use several layers of baking paper and that was in a slow combustion oven where the fire box was below the oven and so that is where the heat came from entirely.

[Heaven]

Nope, no setting, just turn it on to a temperature. And yeah it's fan forced so I would have thought that would have helped too.
I thought there should be a cover too but I can't find one anywhere!!

[rosehannah]

To stop the bums being burned out my cakes I used to put a layer of white printer paper under the grease proof paper in my tin just cut it to the shape of the base. Good luck

[Indadhanu]

Taffy... I've just had a look at our oven, and it doesn't look like a cover is missing... Though if there was a cover it would make cleaning a lot easier than having to reach in and around the element! Might give the real estate a call...