An oven is configured with a cooking cavity for receiving a cooking load, a circuit for current supplied by one or more stored energy devices such as rechargeable batteries, and a heater comprising one or more radiant lamps to be driven by the current, the one or more radiant lamps being sized and positioned for heating the cooking load. The lamps are driven by current discharged from the batteries to radiantly heat a cooking load. An application of this stove configuration is in a toaster which is capable of toasting slices of bread in a matter of seconds.