what am I doing wrong with my kenwood?

mrs_baggins

after just having a hand whisk and a magicmix type of thing i treated myself to a classic chef as I seem to be baking more cakes than I used to. It may be something I am doing but things have not gone right with me working it so far but am sure someone here will put me right.

the first cake I made the beater didnt touch anywhere near the bottom but realised you had to adjust the length of the beater so have done it so it almost touches the bottom and it wont go any further.

I made an 8 egg cake and this was fine but apart from that when making just a 2 or 3 one i spend most of the time stopping it and getting the huge clump from the beater but seem to have to do this about 5 or 6 times? is this normal? a few times when its a fairly small cake I have reverted to my hand whisk.

I made saffron dough once in it. have never made anything like this before but the dough just didnt seem to want to clump together. I ended up getting it out and doing by hand but didnt knead enough so was hard as bullets!!

are there knacks to using it? do I not have the speed high enough? everyone says how great they are so it must be me!! your thoughts are appreciated

valk_scot

Are you using the right beater for the jobs you want to do? The K-beater is for cake batters and most general mixing, the balloon whisk is for cream and egg whites etc and there's a dough hook for...err, dough.

peachyprice

That doesn't sound right at all. What speeds were you mixing the cake and dough on?

Did you buy it new?

ka7e

I have a largish Breville and have the same problem. Under 4 eggs in the mix and I'm forever scraping down the sides (high speed) or dislodging lump (lower speeds)! Luckily I have an ancient little orange Kenwood on a stand that I use for smaller quantities. I'm sure Kenwood would make a fortune if they re-introduced a smaller machine on a stand!

Badrick

When you say beater won't go any further, is this because there's no more adjustment or because beater touches bowl?
I don't know if it's the same as earlier models, but there was a thin aluminium disc sitting under the bowl, to which you could add (Christmas?) card discs making the bowl a bit higher.
You may be able to fashion something similar from card to try.
If you aren't doing this already, Kenwood advise adding dry goods to liquids for a better mix.

good_advice

Hiya, I sometimes find with my Kenwood that the marg sticks to the k beater, then when I add the eggs every thing it fine.
I use stork tub marg for cakes and the block marg for pastry.

mrs_baggins

Badrick wrote: »

When you say beater won't go any further, is this because there's no more adjustment or because beater touches bowl?
.

its because there is no more adjustment. i put a small amount of water in bowl to just cover the bottom but it doesnt touch it.

I think I am using the right attachment so dont think its that

I have tried various speeds but tbh have only used it about 6 times so far so cant say I have worked it all out yet

Badrick

mrs_baggins wrote: »

its because there is no more adjustment. i put a small amount of water in bowl to just cover the bottom but it doesnt touch it.

You didn't say if mixer was new or used, if used, it's possible bowl packing is missing, I'd try a few 150mm discs of thin card under bowl then check beater height.
As a guide, my A701a has 3 and a half millimeters under bowl.

marmitepotato

I would be inclined to drop Kenwood an email and ask them. They are very very helpful.

mrs_baggins

i have a huge confession!!!! i was just going to quietly go away in a corner but you nice people have made an effort to help my problem so I can't.

Its acutally (mortified grin) my error!! when one of the posters mentioned am I using the correct attachment I thought I was. But when I thought about it I was trying to use the balloon whisk to beat!! I am just so stiipid sometimes I amaze myself! I am so sorry!

marmitepotato

mrs_baggins wrote: »

i have a huge confession!!!! i was just going to quietly go away in a corner but you nice people have made an effort to help my problem so I can't.

Its acutally (mortified grin) my error!! when one of the posters mentioned am I using the correct attachment I thought I was. But when I thought about it I was trying to use the balloon whisk to beat!! I am just so stiipid sometimes I amaze myself! I am so sorry!

Hee hee hee! At least you had the gumption to come back and 'fess up'!