Tag Archives: Kitchen Aid

Bakers are made, not born.

Don’t believe me?

A few years ago, my cakes (and my photography) looked like this:

Notice how this cake is leaning precariously to one side and the very runny icing is pooling in the middle?

*Cringe*

At least my daughter looks darling in her cute fairy-outfit-over-pyjamas look. (Wait, did that comment just turn me into a Mommy Blogger? lol)

The photograph says it all: I used to SUCK as a baker.

But over the last couple of years my baking has improved a lot. Over the last year it’s improved dramatically.

Why?

Mostly, I’ve made more of an effort. I studied cookbooks and food blogs, bought some great kitchen gadgets (a revolving cake stand, an offset spatula, assorted cake pans and cooling racks), and kept the pantry stocked with baking essentials (flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, coconut, and icing sugar) so I could bake whenever the urge arose.

But credit must also go to my latest kitchen accessory and my serious new crush, the KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer.

A few months ago, I received an email from the good folk at Filtered Media about KitchenAid. I responded and not long after a red KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer arrived at my home for a test drive.

Now I’d never had a stand mixer before and had always been curious about Kitchenaid’s stand mixers. Yes, the looked gorgeous, and came in variety of fantastic colours but what was the fascination with them all about? Were they really that good? Or was it a case of style over substance?

Over the next few months I used the KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer regularly, up to four times a week. I made cakes, meringues,  pavlovas,  custards, ice creams, biscuits, Swiss meringue buttercream and slices.

It was a revelation.

I’m an impatient person so holding a hand mixer for 10 minutes to cream some eggs and sugar together is not my idea of fun. I usually manage around three minutes before getting bored and chucking the mixture in the pan. This might be OK for some cakes but for others it was a disaster.

So I love being able to pop the ingredients into the mixing bowl and then potter around the kitchen while the KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer worked its magic.

Moreover, the cakes it produces are impressive.

Check out the height of this meringue on this Quince Meringue Pie.

I made the exact same cake two days earlier with my hand mixer and it didn’t look anything like that.

Now have a look at the Dark Chocolate & Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Cake  I made for my daughter’s sixth birthday party.

Yes, I know the Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream has separated a little – I was up late prepping and couldn’t be bothered waiting for the butter to chill. Still, it’s not a bad looking cake and it tasted magnificent.

Perhaps you’re more into trifles?

This was a berry trifle I made for a commissioned e-book. It was a real hit at a family dinner.

Speaking of hits, do you like cake pops?

These were some delightful and not-too-sweet cake pops that I made for my daughter’s party.

Perhaps you’d prefer something a little healthier?

That was my Berry Pistachio Tart with a wholemeal base I made for Sweet Adventures’ Nuts about Nuts bloghop.

Now it’s true that most of these cakes could have been made equally well with a hand mixer, especially for more patient types. But would you have actually baked them or just thought about it and decided it was too hard most of the time?

But even if you are are a motivated and patient baker, it’s when you’re baking cakes like sponges that the KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer really earns its keep.

Check out this Instagram of a Victoria Sponge with Berries I made for About.com.

The cake mixture needs to be beaten for a  full 10 minutes: it’s the only way to get that fabulous height.

I’d never made a Sponge Cake before because I didn’t feel like I had 10 minutes of my life to spare to hold a hand mixer. But now I just chuck all the ingredients into the KitchenAid Artistan Stand Mixer and it does the heavy lifting for me.

*Sniffs. Wipes tear.*

I love it and I can’t imagine my life without it now.

What about you, dear reader? Do you  use a hand mixer or stand mixer? And how does it affect your baking?

*** Upcoming Giveaway ***

Do you love KitchenAid, too? Next week I’ll be giving away two packs containing a KitchenAid Artisan 2-slice Toaster plus a KitchenAid Artisan Coffee Maker for Father’s Day! Don’t miss your chance to win this fantastic prize.

With thanks to Lisa McLean and Sarah Broome at Filtered Media.

Hello dear readers. Forgive my recent absence – it’s been a memorable few weeks for all sorts of reasons. I’ll have a few things to post about soon but in the meantime here’s what I’m loving right now.

(1) Peonies. I adore peonies – they’re by far and away my favourite flower, along with David Austin roses. When I saw the ones at the top of this post at Coles (Coles!) the other day I was flabbergasted as they are typically only available in Australia for about three weeks in November. So I had to buy them, didn’t I. Aren’t they lovely?

(2) Mad about Mushrooms. This month I will be visiting two Adelaide restaurants and reviewing their mushrooms dishes on this blog as part of Mushroom Mania, a month-long celebration of all things mushroom. I’ve been dying to try the two restaurants I’ve chosen so can’t wait to tell you all about my dining experiences.

(3) DIY Craft. I’m never short of ideas for making crafty things but my execution of said projects is often less than ideal. Luckily, the projects I tackled this week with my kids (2.5 and 6 years old) are all about spontaneity and joy, not precision and perfection. Firstly, inspired by this post by Lady Croissant, we turned a scribbled over coffee table in the playroom into the stylish talking piece above with the help of a little Japanese washi tape. Then, inspired by the gorgeous work of Confetti System, the current darlings of the design world, we made this whimsical decoration for our living room. What do you think of our work?

(4) Blogger Love. I’ve had some lovely shout outs from some wonderful bloggers lately. Georgia from Rainbow Bakery made an Apple Crumble Pie inspired by my Free-Form Apple Tart, Tania from My Kitchen Stories made a Very Simple Banana Tarte Tatin with Golden Syrup Ice Cream based on my Honey Ice Cream and Patty from The Fearless Cooking Club made my Honey Ice Cream as part of an Ice Cream Social. Wait, an Ice Cream Social? That is just so… brilliant.

5) KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The good folks at KitchenAid sent me a fire engine red stand mixer to test drive and I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to return it. It’s sexy, reliable and brilliant in the kitchen. So far I’ve made a Victoria Sponge with Berries, a Quince Meringue Pie and a Berry & Coconut Meringue Tart. Next up, home-made pasta, ice cream and sausages.

(6) Penelope Trunk. I’m sure some of you are familiar with Penelope’s blog. Penelope is a highly intelligent American with Aspergers who founded The Brazen Careerist, has the #1 career blog in the world, and is syndicated to 200 newspapers. She’s not to everyone’s taste – her tweeting of her miscarriage mid-business meeting generated a hail of coverage in both the blogosphere and traditional media – but she’s searingly honest and always backs up her savvy and unconventional advice with current data. A true original.

(7) Chocolate and wine classes. Chocolate and wine classes have been popping up at all kinds of food festivals lately. I’ve always wondered if they were a genuine tutorial in chocolate and wine tasting or simply an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate. So I was pleased to receive an invitation to a recent Chocome chocolate and wine class for media at the National Wine Centre. And I now know the truth: they are a genuine exercise in matching chocolate to wines AND a great excuse to eat a lot of chocolate. That’s known as a choco-licious win-win. The National Wine Centre will be running further chocolate and wine classes on July 21, August 18, September 22 and October 13. Book now.

(8) A List Blogger Bootcamp. Regular readers will know that I recently celebrated my one year blogging anniversary. This has led me to ask all sorts of question of myself that sound like the title of of a Judy Blume novel: Who am I?, Why Am I Here? and Where Am I Going? So to help figure this out I’ve recently joined the A List Blogger Club. I first heard about A List Blogger Bootcamp from Jules Clancy (The Stone Soup) during a panel discussion at last year’s Australian Food Bloggers Conference. It sounded interesting and I filed it away in my head for future investigation. A couple of weeks ago  I came across it again and decided to sign up. I’ve only just started scratching the surface of the members-only content but I wish I had signed up earlier as it’s full of excellent, useful information. I love this kind of self-discovery – I call it navel gazing with benefits.

So tell me, what are you currently loving?

* All images taken with Instagram – follow me at @thehungryaustralian * 

Ever since I started cooking with quinces a few weeks ago I’ve been dreaming up ways to enjoy this magnificent fruit.

So when Sweet Adventures‘ Sweet As Pie bloghop rolled around, I decided quinces had to be the star ingredient. But what type of pie would I make?

After a couple of false starts I settled on this Quince Meringue Pie, a kind of mish-mash of my Free-Form Apple Tart and my Mini Lemon Meringue Pies, using slow-roasted quinces.

Yes, roasting the quinces takes some hours. I’m not going to lie; this is not a dessert that can be made on the spur of the moment. But good things come to those who wait so think of this pie as the culinary equivalent of your perfect partner – chances are, it won’t be the first person you fall for.

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