Kitchenaid .........

[frazzledbutcalm]

I know this has probably been done a dozen times, forgive me

I'd like to buy a kitchenaid .. what exactly do they do? I make cakes, meringues etc, pastry, bread. Is it worth it?

shelagh ... I have to name it

fuzzy ... The shiny finish is amazing! Dc are asking me to bake now .. I'm far too busy admiring it!

giles ... Wow what a great party you throw! I think the music is too slow for the adrenaline rush I have right now though!

Party party party!!

Well that settles it. I am going to have to buy one too :)

REALLY, REALLY WANT ONE

Ordering the pistachio. Found a load of John Lewis vouchers when we moved house from when we got married years ago so I'm going to blow them on that. Dh is obviously delighted because he will get more cake. It seems a very good wedding gift.

Of course you have to name it!!

hooray for moving I'm excited for you too!!!

Moving that's great!!

Shelagh ... what's your KA name?

Gertrude will be ready for collection on Sunday afternoon.

Yay!

mines called xena if you want to know

Mine doesn't have a name, but I love it nonetheless. I have a red one, my mil has raspberry ice.

Even if we never used it, I would think it worth the price just to look good in the kitchen.

I allow virtually nothing to be 'out' in the kitchen, but the KitchenAid had a special shelf built into the island when our kitchen was built.

moving ... you've named yours already??

giles ... xena??

How do you decide on a name and how did you know you had to name it??

So what does everybody make in theirs? Do you just make normal cakes recipes and the KA makes mixing easier?

I have no idea why I called it xena but she stuck so...

I make cakes and butter icing and bread and crumble mix in mine.

KA buttercream is the best

cakes are lovely and light in it too

How do you know what setting to put it on? For scones, cakes and crumble do you just put all ingredients in bowl then mix?

start low to get it mixed and not be sprayed with flour and go from there. stop when ot looks right.

Loving all the KAs with names . Mine doesn't have a name, but has pride of place on the kitchen worktop. I have the cream one. I really, really wanted apple green or pistachio, but they didn't have either of them in the shop I had a gift voucher for. Also, DH was with me & he said he'd be more likely to use it if we had a neutral colour . It's worked out well though, he uses it more than me!

Yeah I named pfb 5 months before he arrived so this is pretty conservative for me. I nearly called it Alvin. As in GBBO for his is pistachio but she looks a bit more feminine to me.

I've just claimed £25 back off John Lewis under their price promise so it's cost me £40 :)

Good news about the buttercream. I hate making it with hand mixer and clouds of icing sugar everywhere so I might make more. And Italian meringue..!

I will need a new kitchen too because my current one is horrible Gertrude will clash.

moving

That made me lol! Gertrude will clash

I don't think I'll name mine though ... it's far too pretty and gleaming!

When you make buttercream put a damp tea towel over the kitchenaid before you switch it on. Stops icing sugar billowing everywhere.

I cream my butter and sugar for cakes first but you can use the all-in-one method too.

In dd's MINE i have made:

Lots of basic / chocolate / lemon sponges adding butter and sugar first, fold in flour by hand.
Buttercream for above cakes
v delicious carrot cake (nigel slater recipe)
meringues -very easy
bread eg pizza bases, flatbreads, pitta. I probably wouldn't have made these without the ka because I'm too lazy!
Ice cream once so far. It is delicious!

I think thats

Oops! *all so far.

will try mash next.

Luckily dh agrees about the kitchen. Sadly I didn't find a couple of thousands in building vouchers so it will have to wait a bit.

I should be excited about the making stuff bit but I just want to rub my hands all over it!

Has Gertrude arrived moving?

I've made banana muffins, crumble mix and mashed potatoes this weekend. Ds (aged 22) saw the KA in motion, boaked at the fact that stirring was all it did, said "mam, I'm so angry with you for wasting so much money on a stirrer"

All I could do was laugh and say "you don't understand, you just don't understand"

He totally doesn't understand. ...