Do I really need a stand mixer?

 

I have been procrastinating for far too long now; time for me to just bite the bullet and get this post written.

I read a piece on stand mixers on one of my absolute favourite blogs a week or so back and felt compelled to offer the other side of the argument here. I do see that this puts me in the realm of those tacky popstars who record musical responses to well produced chart toppers, but so be it. I am old enough not to care now.

I have never met Sarah or been in her gorgeous newly fitted kitchen, but I have read her blog since the beginning and I feel like I know her well enough that she won't mind me stealing her idea for a post. See, she doesn't think she needs a stand mixer, and that you probably don't either. Well, I want to tell you that my stand mixer is one of the greatest things ever to come into my life and I think that you might well benefit from begging, borrowing or stealing one yourself.

Here's why.

Actually, no: let's start with a little about me that might not be clear from this blog.

• I don't bake all the time. It probably ends up being one cake a week. Honestly.
• I seem to have ended up making quite a few wedding cakes and do a bake sale every year.
• I own a hand mixer as well, but no food processor (I hated it and gave it away).
• I am not scared by 'difficult sounding' recipes.

OK. I should also probably say that my stand mixer was a wedding gift from my whole family. It's a Kitchen Aid Artisan in beautiful Candy Apple Red (for the record), and every time I use it it reminds me how generous my family are and how much I love them.

(If you hate your family and have to buy your own mixer, well, I still think you'd love using it, so don't think that's my only reason for disagreeing with Sarah.)

Reasons to own a stand mixer:

• The power: no electric hand mixer can compete.
• The fact that it mixes thoroughly: cakes I do in the Kitchen Aid have better texture and crumb and rise more evenly than those I do by hand or with a hand mixer.
• Hands free: I'm a hands free junkie. I can beat eggs and pour hot sugar syrups into them at the same time without burning myself, and answer the phone while baking if I have to.
• Capacity: 16 egg whites beaten to a meringue in one bowl? No problem. Deep sides mean mess is minimal.
• Style: Candy Apple Red. How many times do I have to say that?
• Multi Use: maybe that's pushing it, but you can do great mashed potatoes in a mixer like mine. Also great for making and serving eggnog at Christmas. Seriously.

Sarah recommends instead an electric hand mixer. I own two, but never use them.

Reasons I don't rate hand mixers:

• The lack of power: they are just rubbish. Even on high speed. Making French buttercream with one in my pre-KA days nearly killed me (and the mixer!).
• They break down: maybe I was overusing mine, as I did supply a café with cakes for a while, but I never seem to get them to last more than a year of regular use.
• Takes up cupboard space: I may be in the minority, but I find this far more annoying than having to have my stand mixer sitting on the work top in the corner looking pretty. And my kitchen is small.
• I have to stand at the mixing bowl for however long it takes. And genoise takes 15 minutes with a hand mixer. No thank you!
• The beaters scratch my glass bowls. Unsightly!
• They can overheat: my stand mixer can go all morning on high and not even break a sweat.

I do see that cost is a reason that people don't indulge their stand mixer desires, and certainly I would not have spent the money it cost to buy the Kitchen Aid on myself, which is why they are so often on wedding lists, let's face it. However, I would not have baked half of the more labour intensive cakes I have done were it not for the stand mixer and for that reason alone I recommend them. If you like baking, you'll find ways to use it. If you think you want one, you'll probably use it all the time.

Just my two cents'.

Now go check out Sarah's great blog!