My experience with stand mixers is limited. My mum (as I’m sure all mums of a certain generation did) had a Kenwood Chef that was built like a tank.
These machines were heavy; you pressed that little silver button on the side and the unit lifted up and you pushed it back down again and it locked itself with a satisfying clunk. I’m not sure if I was ever actually allowed to use it myself – and certainly not without adult supervision – but I spent many happy hours watching my mum pour flour and stuff into it and watching the beater blade go round and round and round and mix everything up into something that would eventually turn into a cake. Although, I can’t actually remember my mum making a cake, so maybe that’s what she made her peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies with.
And that was my experience with stand mixers until a few weeks ago when I went on a macaroon-making class at Waitrose where we were given kMixes to play with. I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t impressed. Where was the pastel blue tank from the 70s? Where was the little silver button? Where was the satisfying clunk? Why is it made of plastic? I never got to find out the reasons for any of this because when I started jabbering on to the twenty-something macaroon-making assistant about food mixers in the 70s, her eyes glazed over and she continued to prod my sugar with a thermometer.
After playing with the mixer all afternoon though, I did start to hanker for one so when ebuyer.com asked me if there were any kitchen gadgets I needed that I’d like to review, I said I’d like a food mixer please. I wasn’t getting my hopes up to be sent a posh one like a kMix or a KitchenAid (I was stroking those in Currys the other day, they’re so pretty), so when I was offered the Morphy Richards Folding Stand Mixer, I was happy, and also intrigued by the ‘folding’ bit.
It’s really easy to unfold and fold back up for easy storage. Look, I even made a video to show you just how easy it is. (Please excuse the state of the kitchen; a new one’s being put in soon, yay.)
If you can’t be bothered to watch the video, here’s what you get: The mixer with its own storage case (yes, there really is a stand mixer in there), beaters, whisks, dough hooks, bowl and a spatula.
Here it is with the top of the case off.
And with the mixer unfolded.
But… I know… it’s all very well and good being small and compact and easy to store and stuff but does it actually work? Can I make a cake in it? I didn’t actually make a cake in it (I’m sensing a genetic theme here) but I made the brownies from the recipe inside the included booklet and although I’m only half American, I’m 100% fussy about my brownies and these were good brownies. A bit of bite on the top and gooey in the middle, just like brownies should be. I even accidentally made them trendy hipster brownies because I added rock salt instead of normal salt, so every now and then I got a little crunchy hit of salt, and salted chocolate is still a ‘thing’ these days, I believe.
As you’d expect from a mixer that costs nearer £50 than £500, it’s not going to whisk everything up beautifully smooth in a few seconds. What is unique about this mixer though is the bowl isn’t locked on to the base, so you can – while it’s mixing – turn it in your hands clockwise and anti-clockwise, to help it mix. I only had to stop it a couple of times to scrape the sides down and what I ended up with was a bowl full of smooth and chocolatey brownie mix.
I poured the batter into a tray
And cooked for the required time.
And when it was cool, cut into pieces.
If you’re short on space in your kitchen, or don’t want to spend hundreds on a mixer, I can definitely recommend the Morphy Richards Folding Stand Mixer (although please remember my experience of mixers is limited). ebuyer.com are no longer selling it (but please do have a look on ebuyer.com anyway – they have loads of stuff on there from computer stuff to household stuff and have been on the internet almost as long as I have, so they’re a proper established company and everything and I’m not just saying that because they sent me a mixer) but at the time of writing you can buy it online at Amazon for £57.46.