When I started making cakes years ago I always thought that for cake the most important things were piping bags and tips. I quickly found out that cake is much more than that. This is not an inexpensive hobby. You start with bags, tips, spatulas, turntables and pans, then you realize that this list is just the beginning. And it’s going to be really long. Now I need molds, veiners, gumpaste tools, special ingredients, special cutters and at the top of the list what most of us want is a great mixer. Yes, we all dream of the perfect mixer. That little handheld device you bought was great for small jobs but it just won’t do for long because we require power; to mix our buttercream, to make those cakes that require long periods of creaming the butter or making fondant and gumpaste. We put the mixer in a wishlist, we search for what we think would be the best and then we research about it; horse power, speeds, attachments and extras that we might get later. Then the question becomes: Do I want a tilt machine or the one that goes up and down? Usually we want bigger bowls so that kind of makes it even more complicated.

Personally I love the kitchen Aid mixer. If you’ve seen my videos you already know this. I love my tiny 4 quart Kitchen Aid. I found this machine on sale in Home Depot for $159.00, over 17 years ago and it still works like the first time I used it. Cake at the time was more of a hobby. I never thought when I started that cake was gonna become my life. So my little 4 quart cake mixer was perfect for my cakes and all the people that I made cakes for back then were enjoying the fruits of my new passion.

Today I can say that I still love my 4 quart machine. I did use the bigger mixer from kitchen Aid in the store I worked at but I didn’t like the one that goes up and down as much. I didn’t like the fact that the spatula doesn’t reach the bottom of the bowl when mixing and when you are mixing a few egg whites in a bowl, it becomes a bit annoying to have to lift the bowl to make sure it reaches down. Everybody has their own opinion and preferences. Some people love the tilting machine and others swear by the one that lifts up and down. I decided to stay with my smaller machine and bought a 5 quart glass bowl. Then, finally,  I was completely happy with my mixer.

I loved the glass bowl because I could see the mix  and this worked great for my tutorials as well. The bowl has a lid and that is a plus in my book. But the downfall is that the bowl can get a bit heavy. Still, I love it enough to grow muscles, just so I can hold it. The tilt machines usually have less horsepower. So if you’re looking for lots of power, then you have no choice to go to the ones that go up and down. The commercial type mixers from Kitchen Aid are the type that lift. They have bowls from 6 quarts to the last one I saw that has 8 quarts. So for those of you who want bigger, they do have it and you can get extra bowls to fit your needs. They even sell lids for them and pouring shields. Of course all these extras require you to pay money for them. Like I said, this is not an inexpensive hobby. For those who don’t know much about the kitchen Aid, this machine comes with 3 mixing attachments. These attachments are the paddle, the whisk and the hook. The paddle gives the mix a folding effect. The whisk is used more to bring air into the mix. I use it mostly for egg whites. And then you have the hook. This one can be used for breads but we, the cake people, tend to use this attachment for making Fondant or MMF.  A few years ago they brought a new paddle with a rubber edge. They said that the paddle will reach the bottom and the sides of the bowl. I though that was great, so I went and got me one. This is the paddle that I thought was the answer to my laziness of not wanting to lift my mixer to scrape the sides of it. All of a sudden my mixer was making a mess. I couldn’t understand why. I was not doing anything different. One day I was working with  the mixer and I was using the rubber paddle.  I had to do something else. I have more than one bowl so I decided to grab my old paddle, be lazy and not wash the one with the rubber side. Suddenly, my machine was no longer making a mess. So  I decided to wash the other one and I noticed that the rubber does scrape the bowl, but that lack of space between bowl and paddle was the same reason the flour was flying everywhere. So, as far as it goes for me. I won’t use it again. I just don’t like the mess! As far as attachments, I love them. My favorite one is the pasta  roller. This I use to roll my gumpaste. Best attachment ever! I just saw the other day that they have something called a water jacket. I think that will be my next buy. Great for making icings that require to go from hot to cold while it’s mixing, like Suspiro, (almost the same as the 7 minute icing). I’m not getting paid by Kitchen Aid to talk about them, lol. But this is the mixer I love. So for those of you who want to get a new mixer I hope this helps. For those of you who would rather buy some other brand, just do your research and see the options the mixer has, the attachments and all the extras that might make your work in the kitchen a lot faster. Remember, the time you save by working faster is money you save. A good mixer is an investment. A good one should last for a long time. If  you want to check more about Kitchen Aid, you can visit their website at http://www.kitchenaid.com. This is it for now. Until my next blog. Ta Ta! Edna 😉