Choosing The Right
Mixer

To Mix Up Your Cake Recipes

Gone are the days when a recipe called for so many strokes, (by hand), with a large spoon around and around the bowl when mixing a cake or batter of any sort.
So, whether you’re mixing a box cake recipe with only three easy steps, or whipping up one of Granny’s favorite homemade and healthy recipes, you’d be wise to use a modern day electric mixer. Not only is it much quicker, but it also is the way to be certain all ingredients are thoroughly mixed together leaving batter smooth and without lumps of dry flour or mix.

On today’s market, you have plenty of choices as to which mixer would work best in your kitchen according to how much cooking and baking you intend to do. Caterers, chefs, and bakers choose heavy-duty, freestanding, bowl-mixers. But for the everyday housewife’s kitchen, a simple hand mixer or wand is sufficient and much less expensive.

Many new cooks wonder why today’s recipes list the speed and minutes one should use a mixer to blend batters thoroughly yet not over beat…The answer is simple; UNDER MIXING can result in batter being lumpy and ingredients not properly mixed together, while OVER MIXING with electric beaters can, and will, cause unwanted amounts of air to be added to batter leaving the finished cake full of holes. (Holy cakes may be suitable for church services or gun rallies, but not so for a family wanting to just savor the sweet taste of a nice piece of cake.)

If you are more into mixing heavier batters, such as: cookie dough, candies, or nut based bars and squares, then you will have to buy the expensive, baker-equipped mixers with paddles and such, or do as generations before have done― use good ol’ elbow grease. In other words, start stirrin’!

Selecting the Right Cake Mixer for You

As mentioned above, there are three basic mixers to choose from…

a) Stand Mixer… expensive and mainly for professional use.
b) Hand Mixer… most common and capable in home kitchens
c) Wand Mixer… for light mixing only

Each cook/homemaker needs to know their particular uses of an electric mixer before making a final selection.

There are several brands and prices for any mixer you decide on listed below:

1) Kitchen Aid
2) Cuisinart (pronounced― quee-sin-art)
3) Hamilton Beach
4) Sunbeam
5) Black & Decker
6) Braun
 

Written by Granny Tam