Unsung Heros: Our Kenwood Mixer

Have you ever wondered how we manage to make two loaves of bread a week? Or How we can make over 100 cupcakes in one sitting? Because, as anyone who has seen us will know, the answer is not upper body strength. It's one of those unglamorous details that often gets forgotten about in the rush to post the cute baked goods. It's our best friend, our constant kitchen companion, it's our Kenwood Mixer.


You could say that it is a second generation Kenwood mixer. Stephen's parents have one too and while I was content to carry on with a wooden spoon and a hand mixer Stephen didn't want to go into our new flat without one. It's quite possibly the single most expensive thing we bought when moving in (aside from, you know, the flat) and it's proven it's worth. Sure I could manage without this beast but...

Well it makes us cakes and bakes us bread. It has some great features that make mixing quick and easy. It came with three attachments: the traditional balloon whisk, the dough hook and the K (which stands for Kenwood, not any other popular manufacturer of stand mixers...) It also has some really clever tricks like how if the arm is completely down it won't start spinning. The mixer doesn't just move around in a circle, which misses bits out, it changes it's orbit slightly so everything in the bowl gets equally mangled.

And aside from the mixing it also does a lot of other labour intensive, arm killing jobs for me. Sure, it doesn't look that attractive with a food processor on the top but here it is, grating carrots for Carrot and Raisin Muffins.

The top off the processor pops off and a citrus press pops on. Then I can have freshly squeezed orange juice to put in the smoothies that I make in the attachable blender. Magic!

Optional, for more cash, are the Centrifugal Juicer and the mincer. But I already have a juicer and... well you can imagine why I don't want a mincer.


It's not all appliance porn though. I've made chocolate mint cupcakes as a thank you present to take into work tomorrow. The recipe is, as always, taken from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and the frosting from the bowl of our Kenwood mixer.