baking cake using broil element?

[miccha81]

Wondering if this has happened to anyone before...

So I'm starting to make a genoise and turned on my oven to preheat. Checked it a few minutes later and saw sparks coming out of the bottom heating element. Turns out it broke in half.

Would it be possible to make this using the top broil element set to the correct temp?

Thanks!

[gfron1]

If someone on eGullet has an answer from personal experience, the it is the almighty magical eGullet!

My guess is that if you dropped to the lowest rack, covered it, threw in every baking stone you could, crossed your fingers and toes, and didn't mind wasting a pan full of batter, that it just might work. Definitely report back - could be the next big trend

[pax]

I wonder if you have a gas grill with a lid?

[prasantrin]

I have a friend that used to bake bread in his toaster oven (not the same as a broiler, but very top-heavy heating). His attempts were successful, but they had to open and close the oven door a lot to help control the temperature.

Cakes are more delicate, but it's worth a try!

[Malawry]

I taught a cooking class once in a dorm kitchen that had a broken bottom element in the oven. It took me the better part of the first session to figure this out. I then reworked the class to avoid the oven as much as possible.

The class was for 9th graders and was about chemistry in the kitchen, and for the "final project" we were studying how fat affects flavor and texture by baking chocolate-chip cookies with 4 kinds of fat--so we had to use that oven. Baking the cookies on the bottom rack helped. They took longer than normal to bake through, but they did bake through without scorching on the top as long as I watched them like a hawk and rotated them around the halfway point to help eliminate hot spots.

Cookies are a lot more forgiving than a cake, though...

[CaliPoutine]

Wondering if this has happened to anyone before...

So I'm starting to make a genoise and turned on my oven to preheat.  Checked it a few minutes later and saw sparks coming out of the bottom heating element.  Turns out it broke in half.

Would it be possible to make this using the top broil element set to the correct temp?

Thanks!

←

This happened to me last month. While I had a batch of white chocolate brownies ready to go into the oven. I put them in and they did bake, but by the next morning, the oven was shot. My spouse went up to the hardware store and bought a new element( 30 bucks) and replaced it. I had a catering job the following week or else I would have said Forget it because we were gutting our entire kitchen a few weeks later and replacing all the appliances.

[miccha81]

Thanks for the replies.

I ended up just putting it on the lowest rack, not using any baking stones, and it turned out pretty well. Although, having never made a genoise before I can't say if it would have turned out any different by using the regular bake element. Something I'll have to try once the oven's fixed.