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Make a cake by hand or mixer?

bryemycazbryemycaz Posts: 11,737
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in Food and Drink #1
Ive been making Victoria sponges for the family for a while now using a electric hand mixer. However it broke the other day so I decided to make the next one by hand. I think it has come out much better the cake feels lighter and less stodgy. I have seen online people say that a electric mixer is always better but im not so sure.

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  • noise747noise747 Posts: 30,794
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    #2
    Always better by hand, saying that if you got a good mixer, something like a Kitchen aid it can come pretty close.

    i never use my Kenwood for doing sponges.
  • venusinflaresvenusinflares Posts: 4,194
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    #3
    I've always done them by hand but that's because I don't have a mixer!

    It's hard work but worth it :)
  • burton07burton07 Posts: 10,871
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    #4
    I cream the fat and sugar with an electric mixer and whisk in the eggs but I add the flour by hand and fold it in with a metal spoon. My sponges are always light.
  • GiraffeGirlGiraffeGirl Posts: 13,619
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    #5
    I always do it by hand because I tend to flick mixture around the kitchen if I use an electric mixer, even if I have it on the lowest setting!
  • neo_walesneo_wales Posts: 13,625
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    #6
    I bake more in winter and tend to use a mixer unless I'm baking with our little grand children...they love mixing by hand but the results are the same either method.
  • noise747noise747 Posts: 30,794
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    #7
    burton07 wrote: »
    I cream the fat and sugar with an electric mixer and whisk in the eggs but I add the flour by hand and fold it in with a metal spoon. My sponges are always light.

    That is a good way of doing it. i got to do some baking at some point, I have not done so for a while.
  • noise747noise747 Posts: 30,794
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    #8
    GiraffeGirl wrote: »
    I always do it by hand because I tend to flick mixture around the kitchen if I use an electric mixer, even if I have it on the lowest setting!

    That is because a lot of mixers just spin the whisks like hell and not well designed. Certainly the cheaper ones. i have a old Moulinex about 15 years old and it does the same thing. The Kenwood don't, the only problem with the Kenwood is that it is old and the gears are on their way out.
    I am thinking of getting a new one, maybe a kitchen aid, the problem is I will have to start using it a lot more than I use the others .
  • GiraffeGirlGiraffeGirl Posts: 13,619
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    #9
    noise747 wrote: »
    That is because a lot of mixers just spin the whisks like hell and not well designed. Certainly the cheaper ones. i have a old Moulinex about 15 years old and it does the same thing. The Kenwood don't, the only problem with the Kenwood is that it is old and the gears are on their way out.
    I am thinking of getting a new one, maybe a kitchen aid, the problem is I will have to start using it a lot more than I use the others .

    I should probably clarify - hand-held mixer as I don't have the space for a freestander.

    I like to think hand mixing is a work out as well #deluded
  • Victoria SpongeVictoria Sponge Posts: 16,645
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    #10
    Too much work for me to handmix! I use my freestanding Kenwood kMix but I take care not to overbeat. I have my Kenwood hand mixer on standby if anything catastrophic were to happen to the freestand mixer.
  • norbitonitenorbitonite Posts: 8,670
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    #11
    burton07 wrote: »
    I cream the fat and sugar with an electric mixer and whisk in the eggs but I add the flour by hand and fold it in with a metal spoon. My sponges are always light.

    I do exactly the same.
  • SherbetLemonSherbetLemon Posts: 4,073
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    #12
    I use a mixer wherever possible, as I get joint pains in my wrists otherwise.
  • Welsh-ladWelsh-lad Posts: 51,921
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    #13
    noise747 wrote: »
    Always better by hand, saying that if you got a good mixer, something like a Kitchen aid it can come pretty close.

    i never use my Kenwood for doing sponges.

    I disagree.

    Firstly I find the creaming-in stage much better with a mixer. It really works the butter into the sugar, making it fluffy and pale. This takes ages and ages by hand, and is not worth it when the result of doing it by hand is the same or inferior.

    The folding-in stage is obviously best done by hand, because you need to be delicate in order to keep the air in.

    Secondly Kenwood is perfectly fine for sponges imv; KitchenAid is nothing more than style over substance.
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