Well, all of you with your stand mixers (I know, I know, they were gifts from your MIL’s)—not to mention all the cookbooks that take stand-mixer ownership for granted—have left me and my “hand nmixer” with a distincly low-tech and old-fashioned kitchen feeling. (Note that I really don’t have a stand mixer mostly because I won’t sacrifice the counter space.)
Until now!!!
My friend across the hall snagged a little “Cakes and Frostings” cookbook for me from a used book store. It has copyright imprints from the 50s, 60s and 70s (sporting microwave and slow cooker modifications for most recipes).
Today I read the following instuction: “Beat 200 strokes or 2 min. with an electric mixer.” Moreover, it gives you the option of making your genoises (I think it’s genoisess) by “beating with an electric mixer for 10 minutes or for 20-25 minutes with a hand rotary beater.”
I mean, I have an electric mixer. It is sooooooooooo modern and high-tech. Truly cutting edge! I pity the people who must make these recipes counting to 200 and wearing themselves out with their rotary beaters!
The funny thing is I remember doing this when I was a kid, and I’m only 43. I also remember using the hand rotary beaters. It still worked - the cakes were yummy and fluffy. Seems impossible.
Matthew has a hand mixer, and look what beautiful things he bakes!
I don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but it’s good to know that 100 strokes equals a minute in the mixer!
I used to love using egg beaters, and still had one until my daughter, when she was younger, kept breaking them (she loved using them, too). At some point, I stopped replacing them, but she’s older now, I could try again…
Anne, you don’t understand about power tools. You don’t buy a power tool because you need it, you buy it because you can find an excuse for it. The real joy is in the tool itself and the more the horsepower, the better.
You don’t buy a power tool because you need it, you buy it because you can find an excuse for it.
Charles T, I agree! Ditto re purchasing massive quantities of butter on a great sale—Now I HAVE to make lots of cakes before it expires!!!
I used to love using egg beaters
Same here! I remember using them lots as a kid, and bracing the bowl against me and occasionally having the entire thing go flying. Not that that doesn’t happen with my current mixer, as I do find my self occasionally sponging down the walls of flying batter!
Whatever you are doing, keep it up
Will do! After all, it’s the cake-making quarter coming up—the birthday-est quarter of the year at my work!!! I am SO excited!
Anne, you don’t understand about power tools. You don’t buy a power tool because you need it, you buy it because you can find an excuse for it. The real joy is in the tool itself and the more the horsepower, the better.
Or you buy it because it comes in red, and it’s pretty, and it fits your whole kitchen color scheme.
Okay, I’m joking. I’ve only had my stand mixer for a year and a half. I still use my hand mixer (a $20 toastmaster brand from Walmart bought 8 years ago!).
Beware though, with stand mixer. Once you own it, you can’t imagine life withouth it.
Actually, it was my mother who bought me the stand mixer. It’s a Kitchenaid and I’ve had it about twenty years. I use it at least once/week. My food processor is a Cuisinart and it’s about as old as the stand mixer. I use it as often. I went through three hand mixers in about three years. The stand mixer is worth every bit of counter space it occupies, so if you see one on sale—and there are lots of sales this time of year—you should buy it!
I am going to chime in here. My sister bought me my stand mixer as a combined Birthday/Christmas/House warming gift…and she worked at Linnens - n - things…so she got a discount. I will say that my mother always baked with an electric hand mixer…and everything was delicious. I have a tiny tiny kitchen…with a tiny amount of counter space (any smaller and you couldn’t call it a counter) yet I have a stand mixer and food processor on the counter and I use them and love them. I did once, bake at a friend’s house, and made a cake with a rotary hand egg beater…and the cake was delicious…just took a little more energy and time.
I got my stand mixer as a birthday gift too. Last year, for some reason, I wanted one and “hinted” to my husband. I’d never baked a cake or anything else before that. For my birthday, he and I baked my birthday cake with the new mixer. We used cold eggs and nothing was carefully measured. I had no idea a scale and thermometer were used in baking. That one birthday gift opened a new world for both my husband and I
For our first Valentine’s Day together, my now husband gave me my first Kitchen Aid mixer. People thought he was crazy to do this, but 14 years later this is still my favorite present anyone ever gave me, including jewelry. I still remember how I was so excited!
Memories! When I was a little girl, I always made pudding with my mom using a hand rotary beater. I never gave it much thought until I wanted to make pudding when I was in my mid-twenties. I thought that I needed a beater like I used to use, then I realized an electric mixer would be much easier. It’s funny how you sometimes think something has to be done a certain way until you really think about it.
I feel like I need both of my stand mixers, my hand mixer, and my food processor. And since you mention it, if I can find a rotary beater, I will get one of those too. This does remind me, however, of my visit to Guyana, South America. My hostess’ oven had no temperature setting, she just knew whether it was hot enough or not. And, when her daughter made a cake, she just kept beating and beating, and beating, sat down in the living room to beat, and walked around just beating. When my Guyanese friend came to visit me, she remembered that I had complained of a cake that always sunk in the middle. I baked that cake when she was here and she determined the oven was too hot. This was my old oven that I did learn was about 50 degrees off, but she knew by sensing the heat of the oven. I am grateful that I do not have her circumstance especially baking my cakes in recycled cookied tins.
I feel like I need both of my stand mixers, my hand mixer, and my food processor. And since you mention it, if I can find a rotary beater, I will get one of those too. This does remind me, however, of my visit to Guyana, South America. My hostess’ oven had no temperature setting, she just knew whether it was hot enough or not. And, when her daughter made a cake, she just kept beating and beating, and beating, sat down in the living room to beat, and walked around just beating. When my Guyanese friend came to visit me, she remembered that I had complained of a cake that always sunk in the middle. I baked that cake when she was here and she determined the oven was too hot. This was my old oven that I did learn was about 50 degrees off, but she knew by sensing the heat of the oven. I am grateful that I do not have her circumstance especially baking my cakes in recycled cookied tins.
Found the rotary beater on Amazon….moved it to my wish list (window shopping list).
You two are the most apalling enablers! I felt it coming on, so I quickly replaced my old electric handheld (that died last week) with a new one. However, it is quite thrilling, as it boasts “slow start,” “3 extra-low speeds” and has a wisk attachment. As you can see, I’m rather easy to please! For fun, I opened my old mixer to see if I could fix it, and is was full of “dry ingredients”—no doubt from the initial mixings, so I’m looking forward to the “3 extra-low speeds.”
MJ & Avi,
Are your stories the cutest ever told? I think they must be! I just love it!
CRenee,
Dontcha just feel like the total wuss when you see people able to judge their temps and make stuff like that in a routine way? I do. Not that I mind it, of course. Glad you found your roary beater! I’m kind of missing mine, too. I remember how for something—don’t know what—I mixed egg yolks and sugar and it would sort of “attach itself” to the beaters in places and was really hard to get off. They worked extraordinary well, though. They really suck that stuff through them in a very thorough manner. Glad you found a set!!! If they weren’t so huge that they can barely fit in a drawer, I might snap them up, myself!!!
