Hamilton Beach provided me with these mixers for the purpose of review and another set to giveaway to my readers. All opinions are my own.
I have big news to share with y’all! Big, big news! I’m now a Hamilton Beach Brand Ambassador. Do you know what that means? It means I get to try out some much needed new kitchen appliances.
That’s right, a couple of times a year I’ll get to share some of the appliance wealth with my readers. I’m super excited to get to try out and then giveaway some awesome new Hamilton Beach appliances. Before this I don’t think besides a toaster, that I’ve ever had a Hamilton Beach appliance. That’s probably due to the fact that my family has been making industrial kitchen equipment for over a hundred years now. There are some benefits to new appliances and in household sizes.
Today let’s talk mixers. Now y’all know I absolutely love to bake and cook, but truly love to bake. This means you either develop massive mixing biceps or you use a mixer to do all the hard work for you. Depending on what I’m making decides what method I use. When I was about ten, my grandfather bought my mom an industrial stand mixer. Think of it like a commercial mixer on crack. At the time it was the best you could buy at about $1000, 25 years later this mixer is still going strong.
Do you know of anyone that’s had a mixer that still works after 25 years of use? I certainly don’t. This mixer is the only mixer I’ve ever used besides an industrial KitchenAid at Le Cordon Bleu. And I hate to say it but that KitchenAid was a PITA to use. Bulky, awkward and just not user friendly. My old reliable mixer is extremely no fuss to use and I really do love it.
When Hamilton Beach offered to send me a 6 Speed Stand Mixer and their newest SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer with Case I was definitely intrigued. I was pretty darn skeptical that they’d be able to hold a candle to my beloved first mixer. I mean honestly, what could compare? My mixer has a pretty big bowl, so with it I can make double and even triple batches of my favorite treats. The only thing it doesn’t have and I wish it did is a snap on ingredient spout. You know so you can easily add things to your mixer without having to turn it off.
So far I’ve made this amazing dark chocolate swirl coffee cake and my Crock Pot Samoa Schnecken with my Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Stand Mixer, but let me tell you what I like about it. First, I like the fact that its compact, light and square. My industrial mixer is almost as heavy as Seven and since its got a huge bowl, its not something I can leave on the counter in my kitchen everyday. So that means every time I need to bake, I have to lift it out of the cabinet and get it on the counter. The big bowl is made out of thick steel and the motor housing is pretty darn heavy too. The Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Stand Mixer is incredibly light and easy to maneuver. The bowl, while not as big as my other mixer is pretty good sized and light. The mixer body is very compact and square, it takes up a lot less space. It also has suction cups on the base to hold it in place while in use.
Second, it’s really quiet. Like we’re talking the difference between a roaring jet engine and an electric car. It’s literally that much of a difference in sound. This might not be a big deal to most people, but Seven says baking is scary. 
Third, it seems to be just as strong as my industrial mixer. It handled my thick coffee cake dough with no problems. It didn’t jump around on the counter and didn’t struggle at all. The motor also didn’t get hot, even though I ran it for about 10 minutes at a fairly high speed.
The one thing, so far, I don’t like about the Hamilton Beach stand mixer is that when you lift up the arm of the mixer there isn’t a spring pulling it up. The first time I opened the arm, I expected it to spring up and lock into place like my industrial mixer. It didn’t and I ended up with a pinched finger. Now that I know the mixer arm isn’t weighted, I won’t have that problem again.
Last night I was finally able to give the SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer with Case a try when I made some cookies. Let me say I detest having to stop mixing things to scrape down the bowl, it’s just a pain. I try to avoid it whenever possible, even to the point that I’ll fully mix a recipe and then scrape and stir in the dry bits at the end. I absolutely love that the Hamilton Beach SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer takes care of this chore for me. No more stopping in the middle of a recipe to scrape in the dry edges on the bowl.
Another thing I like about the mixer is it has multiple attachments like regular beaters and also a whisk. So you don’t have to drag out your stand mixer to make a bit of whipped cream. They all get stored in the handy dandy storage case that snaps onto the bottom of the mixer. This way you won’t lose those attachments either.
Last thing I love and its different from any mixer I’ve seen is the power boost button. This little button if you press it no matter what speed you’re on will give your mixer a little extra oomph to power through a tough spot. I tried it out when my cookie dough got a little thick and it just powered right through. Definitely a nice feature.
So who’s ready to win a mixer? I will be drawing two (2) winners from the entries below, one (1) winner for the Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Stand Mixer and one (1) winner for the Hamilton Beach SoftScrape 6 Speed Hand Mixer with Case. Contest will run till May 30, 2014 and is open to residents of the United States for those over 18 years of age. You can enter using the rafflecopter form below. Winner will have 24 hours to answer winning email, if not another winner will be drawn. Good Luck!
