Hello,
I'm looking to buy a mixer for baking cakes. Not looking to buy a Kitchen aid as I don't do it often enough to justify cost. Can someone recommend me one around $100 mark? Kmart one has good reviews but not sure of quality and don't want it to smell like the previous toaster i bought. Thank you
I don't need it to whip cream but can it handle dough for baked goods like bread or rolls?
No. You said "baking cakes". You need something a bit more powerful than my piece of sh*t for bread dough. That's why i have the second hand bread maker
Sorry I am new to this, for baking cakes I have mainly used a whisk and a hand mixer for icing. Now I want to start using it for dough.
@sagrules: To make bread you'd either buy a proper stand mixer (think KitchenAid or something quality), I had a Kenwood that broke quickly when I attempted to make bread with it. Ended up with an actual bread maker to handle the dough.
If you are an occasional bread baker and don't want to spend $800+ buying a KitchenAid, a bread maker is only $200-300. The downside is that it takes up significant room in your kitchen and pretty much only has 1 purpose. Alternatively, you can look up recipes that do not require kneading, such as using autolyse for gluten development.
@Banana: What broke on the Kenwood?
My secondhand Kenwood is a year in with me making 1.7Kg batches at least weekly.
@ESEMCE: The base that holds the bowl in place. Can't use the machine now without manually holding the bowl down.
@Banana: Kenwood Mixer bases are steel. My base model has literally walked itself off the bench to crash onto the floor with no damage to the machine whilst mixing dough. We can't be talking about the same gear!
Sounds like mine. Mines an old Breville WhizzMizz or something. Going for years. Id definitely get something as simple as Breville or Sunbeam.
But dough - definitely need something with more grunt. Handhelds won't cut it.
Oh the Mixmaster is still a pedestal mixer. It's just an old cheapy. It maybe was expensive at the time, who knows haha. It's beige coloured, which is usually a giveaway to the age of the thing
What did your old one smell like?
If it’s like the $7 Kmart toaster I bough it smells like burning plastic
That toaster was honestly $7 too expensive
Yes smelt exactly like that
It was the $20 toaster from kmart
If you don't want to spend money on a Kenwood or KitchenAid stand mixer, maybe you could buy a hand mixer instead? I used to use the Sunbeam Mixmaster which you can get around $50 and that worked well for me.
There's also a Kenwood on sale at myer for $79
https://www.myer.com.au/p/kenwod-quickmix-premium-hand-mixer…
Can it handle this kind of baking mixing dough? The Kmart hand mixer one for $13 is excellent for icing but it got overloaded and died doing dough
I mean for baked goods and pizza dough
Dough or cake mix?
Dough (ie drier and stiffer than cake mix)
Short answer no.
Long answer, probably yes, but your arm probably isn't going to be strong enough to hold it still while mixing.
Cake mix
yes, but you are probably going to want something on a stand if you're doing additions during the mix.
Mainly dough, the cakes i have baked haven't needed more than a whisk and used hand mixer for the icing.
The attachments show an item for dough
@sagrules: Yeah, and how does that help your arm hold the mixer still?
I learned the hard way (along with a nice big chip out of my floor) that I have to hold my Kenwood down while mixing dough otherwise it'll "walk" itself off the benchtop.
There is no way I could mix dough with a hand mixer…
The alternative is to mix dough by hand of course. It's not that hard, it's just a bit messy.
Get the kitchen aid style one and bake more to justify it.
kitchenaid hand mixer
Do you have a link to a KitchenAid hand mixer under $100?
I did, sorry about that. I changed it after I posted to be in line with OP's post. That's a good link.
Kmart bench mixer is decent quality, the one I unboxed didn't smell either.
Look secondhand for a Kenwood.
I'd also say a KitchenAid but they're unlikely to come up in the $100 range.
Baker here
How much batter you're making? If it's no more than a supermarket box size (roughly 400g of dry ingredients), you're just wasting money and washing up. Plus mixing cake batter isn't that long, as it only takes me less than 1 minute to mix on medium to semi-high speed.
I have 3 items:
Handheld mixer from Kmart $13
Handheld wireless kitchen aid mixer $200
Sunbeam Planetary Mixmaster Stand Mixer 140 (on sale sometimes)
Depending on the mixer tool, I only use the stand mixer for larger batches, I use the wireless mixer for multiple small batches but different flavours and the kmart is just a back up as that was my first mixing tool.
IMO Kitchen aid is worth it if you're going to make large batches, different types of cakes and using different attachments. If it's just mixing batter and putting it in the oven, save your money. Kitchen aid is just a flex brand.
Thank you for your detailed reply. I think it is more than 400g of dry ingredients as just the flour alone is 4-5 cups.
Sorry I am new to this, for baking cakes I have mainly used a whisk and a $13 Kmart hand mixer for icing. Now I want to start using it for making recipes that require dough e.g. pizza, foccaccia, dinner rolls and sweet backed goods like cinnamon scrolls.
The Kmart one wasn't strong enough to handle the dough, so now looking for replacement
You will need a stand mixer that's sturdy, you may want to invest in a stand mixer that has metal paddles and attachments but that may be on the pricier side.
But for dough, you may not find a stand mixer for $100 with metal attachments, you could prob find it on ebay or gumtree second hand. But there are non-stand mixers that are designed for dough. Like this [BEAR Dough Mixer Machine] but that's $200 (https://sofavorite.com.au/products/bear-dough-mixer-machine?…)
The only stand mixer I recommend is kitchen aid but that's crazy out of your budget
You could try a normal stand mixer with plastic attachments but I couldn't tell you if its good or not from experience. Im a cake baker, not dough.
sagrules Can someone recommend me one around $100 mark?
Bunnings
Healthy Choice Electric 1200W Mix Master 5L Stand Mixer- Red $99
https://www.bunnings.com.au/healthy-choice-electric-1200w-mi…
Thanks, haven't seen this one. It looks like the attachments are plastic?
At $99 I'd presume plastic
But then it's $99 and within your budget.
I have a $20 Sunbeam Mixmaster which I got 10yrs ago from the Salvation Army. It still goes strong, and is more than enough for cakes. If you want something for whipping cream etc then you might want something better
When doing bread/pizza, I have my parents old bread maker and just stop it after the dough cycle