If, like us, you’re a keen home baker but you aren’t in a position to spend hundreds of pounds getting a home mixer to make your life easier, then the good folk at Savisto have come up with a solution that is affordable and works an absolute treat.

We had already had some good experiences (albeit slightly unhealthy ones!) using the home ice cream maker from Savisto, which you can read out about here, but we couldn’t help but feel a little daunted entering the world of home mixers!

We had previously always done our mixing, kneading and whisking by hand, and the idea of trusting a machine to do the job for us was a tough one. However, after trying out the Savisto home mixer, we now have full confidence that these awesome machines can be far more effective and efficient than mere humans!

In a bid to really test out the abilities of the machine, we decided to make doughnut dough and then whisk our crème Chantilly filling using the Savisto Stand Mixer.

Doughnut dough takes a long time to make and requires some firm mixing using the beater attachment to begin with at a medium speed. What was immediately clear was that by having speeds actually on the machine and some excellent guidance notes, you could get the machine precisely on the right speed.

So, instead of just trying my best to work out how to mix the dough and then hoping that it was ‘coming away from the sides’, I could see the mixture coming together really easily and could clearly see that the dough was coming away from the side of the bowl. As an added bonus, the machine also didn’t overheat quickly as some can do!

After resting the dough and then going again on high speed, it was clear to see why Savisto have put four anti-slip feet on the mixer; once it gets going on high speed, you can certainly see that the machine is working very hard (meaning you aren’t having to!) to bring the dough together properly.

After this final mix, we needed to leave the dough to prove overnight. This is where the mixer’s 5.5 litre bowl comes in really handy; you can pop the mixing bowl off the machine, cover it nice and easily with clingfilm, and then avoid having to worry that whatever bowl you pick is going to be insufficient in terms of size to hold the proved mixture.

As you can see from our pictures, the dough really does double in size and becomes quite enormous – the size of the bowl really helps you out here. Once our dough had proved (and was smelling amazing!) we could then use the silicone spatula to remove the dough from the bowl before cutting it up, proving it again and then finally deep frying it.

Of course doughnuts are lovely just coated in sugar and served fresh out of a deep fat fryer, but they taste even better with a delicious filling! With this in mind, cleaning the mixing bowl and then getting some crème Chantilly whipped up was a priority. It may seem obvious but how easy something is to clean makes an enormous difference to its usability, especially if you, like us, have a toddler with more energy than you think is possible running around the house! Thankfully the Savisto home mixer was a doddle to clean with a simple soak and wipe round (of course using a little washing up liquid).

Whipping cream is not exactly the hardest thing in the world I grant you but how often after cooking for hours have you just wanted to get it done quickly without the drama of standing there holding a bowl and a whisk for what seems like hours?

With the Savisto home mixer, this task was done in moments, with the whisk attachment easy to fit, quick to work, and accurate in terms of preventing over-whipping. It was similarly easy to take the bowl out, get the mixture into a piping bag and then put it back on the mixer to add some passion fruit reduction, which then went into the mixture (and elevated the simple crème Chantilly into something truly divine).

Overall, the Savisto 1260W Retro Food Stand Mixer was an affordable, effective, time-saving device that we have found to be a very worthwhile kitchen aid in a busy family kitchen.

If you are looking for a food stand mixer for a loved one for Christmas or just want to give yourself a bit of a hand in the kitchen, we would thoroughly recommend the  Savisto 1260W Retro Food Stand Mixer, with a price tag of only £95.99.

Do let us know if you have used a  Savisto 1260W Retro Food Stand Mixer or if you have any questions about how we got on using it!