Save yourself from a sore arm when you’re trying to whip up a Christmas pav mere hours before your delightful yet slightly judgmental grandmother arrives with your weird uncle in tow.
The Russell Hobbs Desire Matte Black Kitchen Machine has your food prep needs all the way covered, I took one for a test drive and here’s what happened.
What’s in the box?
The machine itself comes with these accessories:
- Beater attachment for normal baking (cakes, brownies etc)
- Whisk attachment for incorporating air into mixtures (eg. whipping cream or beating eggs)
- Dough hook attachment for all your dough needs (eg bread, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls)
- Transparent splash guard with window for adding ingredients minus the mess.
First Impressions
The machine itself has a modern minimalist design (love), with an all matte black exterior and shiny silver bowl, arm lock lever and speed dial. Solid construction, feels like quality in the hands and looks handsome on my benchtop. There are little suction cuppies which keep the mixer firmly attached to the benchtop so it doesn’t dance off the bench taking your cinnamon rolls along for the ride.
I pushed the arm lock lever up to unlock the mixing arm and bring it up to change the attachment. I used the beater attachment, changing the attachment requires a push and twist motion that I easily worked out without looking at the instructions.
I decided I’d go for something quick and easy this first time using it and elected for a brownie box mix. I threw all of my ingredients in plus some frozen banana I’d microwaved until it was very soft for a bit of interest (I always freeze brown bananas and tell myself I’ll use them later - at this stage my freezer is at least 30% bananas). I pushed the arm lock lever up so I could move the mixing arm down and the beater into the bowl.
I turned the dial all the way up in my excitement and this was a rookie error which tossed some dry ingredients up and out of the bowl. Luckily the splash guard kept everything contained.
I turned the dial down low until the ingredients were incorporated and then up high because it was fun. Brownies don’t usually need this much mixing but I’m a blogger, not a baker so away I went.
Verdict
Loved. It.
Why do I love it? Let me count the ways.
- Three different mixer attachments make this machine as versatile as the home baker needs it to be.
- It looks brilliant on my bench top and doesn’t take up a lot of vertical space so I can store it easily in one of my kitchen cabinets.
- The splash guard keeps the mess in the bowl without obscuring the view, and has an opening for adding ingredients which I found to be very handy.
- I found the use of the mixer, from changing the attachments through to turning it on to be easy and intuitive, it comes with instructions but I didn’t really need them (you should defs read them though).
- Carefully considered safety features like the arm lock lever to keep the arm up or down when you need it and the suction cups anchoring the unit to the counter both work perfectly and are well integrated into the overall design.
- Finally, it works amazingly! Combining, blending, whipping, whatever you need it to do this is a fantastic stand mixer and I’ll recommend it to all of my friends and random people I meet in my travels.
The Bottom Line
If you’re a seasoned baker or an enthusiastic beginner looking to kick your cakes up a notch, you can’t go wrong with the Russell Hobbs Matte Black Kitchen Machine. Get yours now at Bi-Rite.
