Trying to fathom my new oven

Don't blame yourself. I've never been able to bake anything in a fan oven. I've tried all sorts of tricks gleaned from the internet but none work. Fan ovens seem to be a law unto themselves.

I tried to cook chicken pieces in DD's all-singing all-dancing oven and thought I had it on the correct temperature. Luckily SIL came home and found I had it on self-clean where the temperature goes up to 500C!

Is it a fruit cake? That should be at a lower temperature and a sponge at about 170C fan.
I find my fan oven needs to be at about 5-10C lower than that recommended in recipes.

Have you got an oven thermometer?

I tend to put cakes on a lower shelf in a fan oven than in non fan ovens because they do bake quicker. If it seems to be browning too quickly, and I know it can't have baked through, I've also draped a sheet of baking parchment over it and turned the temperature down a bit.

Ps I've not baked sponge cakes, scones or pastry successfully since I had a fan oven.

No advice to offer but lots of sympathy. We moved here last October and I have been very hit and miss with the fan oven - still experimenting with temperatures and oven positions.

Sponge cakes seem to be drier than with my previous gas oven so I sometimes 'drizzle' them with a flavoured syrup. Fruit cakes also seemed to go from not cooked to very dry in the blink of an eye so I now soak fruits before cooking with them.

I have found that I can make brilliant Yorkshire puddings following Mary Berry's recipe though!

Thankyou so much. I have taken it out now and told the df that it failed.
I was too quick to think it was easy.
I may try again another day and check everything thoroughly. I don't possess an oven thermometer. Perhaps I should.

My scones and Yorkshire puddings end up lopsided in the fan oven.

They never used to in a conventional oven.

Convection oven - fan oven
110C…………………………..90c
130C…………………………..110-120C
140C……………………………120C
150C……………………………130-140C

For anything which requires cooking at or above 160C in a convection oven reduce the heat by 20C in a fan oven.

When the fan is working you’ll hear it quite clearly.
I hope this helps.

If you’re used to gas I can provide an image with the conversions.

If it's a new oven is there the option of fan or convection in the settings? I can choose either with mine, then set the temperature accordingly.
I don't use the fan setting for cakes, I get better results with the convection setting.

Don't despair as you've had one successful result, you'll do so again I'm sure ?

Oh dear, don’t give up Grammaretto! I hadn’t used a fan oven before the one I chose when we refitted the kitchen. Both the ovens have fans and I don’t think they operate without. I find cakes cook best about 5 degrees less than the recipes say, ie 175 instead of 180. But if I am making a batch of cakes, I lower the temperature for subsequent cakes. Surprisingly (for me) I did read the instruction book before I first used it! It did say to put sponge cake tins diagonally to each other, not on the middle shelf and use dark coloured metal tins. I have always found all cakes are better cooked in the lower, larger oven. I used to bake for a Country Market so not much margin of error to get the cakes right with the new oven! Good luck, enjoy experimenting with your new oven.

My oven has two controls. One activates the fan (or not). The other selects the temperature. When the fan is used, drop the temperature by 20℃ but keep to the stated cooking time. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover it with some greaseproof paper partway through.

Tell me about it ! I have always had a gas cooker brilliant ... had
a electric new built in oven with my new kitchen last year ... I try not to use it if I can help it ! 2 dials 1 is the temperature other ... has a loads ... have to use both dials ... put on this for cooking a joint
of meat / chicken on this shelf ... another for cakes ... depending on what size which dial & which shelf ... loads of others too ... why did I have it was recommended it by the kitchen company & a self clean oven ... what a nightmare ... my daughter said look on utube my cooker isn't on there !

I am grateful for your help and commiserations.
The manual is long and complicated but I thought I understood the basics.
There is a separate clock and timer mechanism which I've not pondered yet.
I'm used to a gas Rayburn which let me down after 45 years. Not tried electric but I am sure it can't be too hard.......
The cooker is a Smeg, dual fuel.

I have only had fan ovens for many a long year. Love them, yes, cook at lower temperatures than convection.

Have a new oven in my new kitchen which seems to have TWO fan settings, one for the whole oven, and one just for an individual shelf (to save energy)

Ovens are very much more efficient now than in the past, so when using a new one, it is a matter of experimenting to find out best settings, etc for our usual recipes. Once you have sorted this all out, you will be delighted with the speed that most items can be cooked to perfection.

Sorry. I meant to be as helpful as SpringyChicken but I went in full blast if you can pardon the pun.
A Smeg cooker? Oooh, how wonderful!

Not quite the same but my children bought me a new smart tv which is fine but it needs a smart owner too it’s a year on and I m still not sure what I m doing I m not a technophobe either
But …….

My thoughts exactly Bluebelle.
When I go to my DD to babysit, the 4yr old can work the Tele but only finds Peppa pig and the like. I cannot change the channel which involves 2 remotes.
I rescued the burned offering and will have it tonight as a pudding with strawberries.
Part of my problem is that I lost the instruction manual and have to look online. I think I should print off the relevant pages, blow them up large and paste them beside the cooker until I am familiarised with it.
Alas I have no printer.....

I've got a new oven too. I can manage the oven and even the timer but the buttons to change the actual time of day is beyond me. I follow the instructions but nothing seems to go right! Hey ho!!! DH came along fiddled a bit and hey presto!!!! It's telling the right time. How annoying.

Is it the multi function oven Smeg?
If so double check you had it on fan, there is a setting whereby the heat comes from the top only.

My fan oven is exceptionally efficient, but I need to cook sandwich tin cakes at 160 for 25 minutes only, and 45 minutes for all the mixture in one cake tin. Sounds like you had the oven far too hot. Pastry is still 200, but shorter time.

It cooked a 23lb turkey in three and a half hours at Christmas!