What bakes well in an air fryer
- Small batches of cookies (6–10 at a time). The faster heat crisps the edges beautifully.
- Individual-size cakes and brownies in a ramekin or 6-inch pan. They cook through fast without drying.
- Biscuits and scones with a decent butter content — the fat layers hold up to the fan.
- Puff pastry items: turnovers, palmiers, hand pies. The hot air helps them rise aggressively.
- Dense, moisture-rich quick breads (banana bread, zucchini bread) in a small loaf pan.
What to never put in the basket
- Anything with a delicate top crust that relies on still heat — soufflés, popovers, meringues.
- Layer cakes. Uneven heat ruins the even rise, and you can't level a sunken layer.
- Anything larger than about 1 pound of batter. The interior won't set before the outside burns.
- Open pies with a custard filling. The fan dimples the surface and the crust won't cook evenly.
- Anything with a sugary top that was supposed to set before it browned (crème brûlée, sticky buns with glaze pre-applied).
The temperature math for baking
Standard air-fryer-conversion advice is "drop 25°F, cut time by 20%." For baked goods specifically, push it further: drop 30–35°F from the oven recipe, and start checking at 70% of the oven time. Baked goods set from the outside in, and the air fryer sets the outside faster than everything else — so the interior has to catch up on a compressed schedule.
Our calculator has "Baked Goods" as its own food type; select it and you'll see larger reductions applied automatically. For a recipe that calls for 375°F / 25 minutes in the oven, the calculator will hand you roughly 335°F / 18 minutes — which is close to what most bakers arrive at by trial and error.
Pan choice matters more than temperature
A standard 9-inch cake pan won't fit in most basket fryers, and even when it does, the airflow under it is poor. Use something small and heat-conductive:
- 6-inch round metal cake pan for small cakes and cornbread.
- Silicone muffin liners (not a muffin tin) for individual cupcakes — they stand up on their own and leave gaps for air.
- A ramekin or 4-oz oven-safe glass dish for single-serving lava cakes, fruit crumbles, or baked custards.
- Parchment paper cut to fit, not a flat sheet — the edges will blow up into the heating element.
Know when to pull it out
Baked goods look done a minute or two before they are. In an air fryer this gap is shorter — the outside is more aggressively set, so the cue changes. Instead of "toothpick comes out clean" or "top springs back," use a combination:
- Toothpick test in the very center, not the edge. Air fryer edges set fastest, so an edge toothpick lies.
- Smell. Baked goods release a sweeter, more caramelized aroma in the last 90 seconds of cooking.
- Internal temperature: 200–205°F for cake and quick breads, 210°F for loaf breads.