Vent: My $40 oven thermometer was 30 degrees off this whole time

I trusted my oven dial for months and my cakes kept coming out dense, but after a late night bake in Portland I finally checked with a cheap probe and it was reading 30F low the entire time. Anyone else find their oven dial is basically a suggestion, or do you just set your own calibration by feel?

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elliot_roberts11d ago

I mean sure a 30 degree swing sounds bad on paper but honestly who is baking cakes at a temp so exact that 30 degrees ruins the whole thing? Most recipes have a range and box mixes are pretty forgiving. I've had ovens that ran hot, ovens that ran cold, and at some point you just learn your oven and adjust. A cheap thermometer is a useful sanity check but chasing perfect calibration on a home oven feels like a lot of work for something that probably won't change the cake much. Unless you're doing super precise pastry stuff, close enough is usually close enough.

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