To truly see how well each stand mixer could mix a cake, we chose Cake by Courtney’s Classic Vanilla Cake recipe. We love this recipe because of its light and fluffy layers, and perfect vanilla flavor. The key to getting perfectly even layers is whipping your butter to a light, pale yellow color, and not overmixing after adding the dry ingredients. The cake test is really telling. Yes, most mixers can incorporate ingredients easily, but not all of them can whip in the amount of air needed for a perfect rise. Here’s how our mixers did:
Testing… testing… 1, 2, 3
BOSCH
NUTRIMILL
5 QUART KITCHENAID
6 QUART KITCHENAID
Bosch Universal ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The scraper attachments are essential when making a cake batter. Even with the bowl scraper, we still found ourselves scraping down the sides a few times. There even was a bit of mixture that we had to scrape off of the top and inside of the paddles, near the drive piece, and between the bowl scraper and bowl. The “low” speed on the Bosch didn’t feel very slow and if we didn’t use the bowl cover, ingredients would have spilled out of the bowl. There was some butter stuck to the bottom of the bowl that we didn’t discover until we folded in the sour cream. Folding in the sour cream was tricky because of the center column. We noticed the batter’s volume was much greater compared to the KitchenAid mixtures and it had a very light and fluffy texture. Once baked, we noticed that the crumb was even due to the unincorporated chunks of butter. However, it looked so tempting because of the fluffy, delicate texture. When placed side by side with the KitchenAid cakes, there was a noticeable height difference. The Bosch’s cake had a slightly domed top which would make stacking and frosting a little tricky, but could easily be remedied by leveling the top of the cake.
Nutrimill Artiste ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
During the cake test, the Nutrimill and the Bosch were very similar. The Nutrimill whipped in a bunch of air, but slightly less than the Bosch. It also has a center column that made folding in the sour cream difficult. During this step, we also noticed some visible chunks of butter that would later lead to issues with the crumb. After baking it, we were surprised that the Nutrimill cake wasn’t as tall as the Bosch. They both had so much air whipped into them and the batters looked similar once completed. When looking at the completed cake, we noticed some uneven crumb and holes due to the chunks of butter that didn’t fully incorporate into the mixture. Would any of these issues stop us from eating this cake? Nope. It still produced a lovely cake with a fluffy texture.
KitchenAid 5-quart Tilt Head ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
During the cake test, we fell in love with this mixer. It didn’t need any additional bowl scraping and it worked perfectly with the timeline of the recipe. After measuring the batter into the cake pans, we had about a spoonful left. The 5-quart bowl was the perfect size for whipping together the butter and sugar. It handled a single batch of cake batter with ease. We already loved the KitchenAid mixer, but this solidified our affection for it. The crumb was light and even, it had a perfectly flat surface for stacking and frosting, and it was all-around delicious. The cake turned out perfectly!
KitchenAid 6 qt Professional ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The 6-quart’s wider, more shallow bowl didn’t work as well as the 5-quart for whipping the butter and sugar together. We found ourselves scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently. The ratio of ingredients to the bowl side caused the mixture to push to the sides where the paddle was unable to reach it. Once we added the eggs, the batter began to emulsify and it no longer stuck to the sides. Overall, the ingredients came together nicely and resulted in a light and fluffy batter. The cakes turned out similar to the 5-quart cakes with an even crumb and flat surface.
So… which mixer is best for cake?
When we set out to test the best mixer for cake, were expecting major differences between these mixers. We thought that the Bosch and Nutrimill would produce over-mixed cakes with uneven tops and issues with the overall texture of the cake, but were pleasantly surprised when they yielded gorgeous layers. Even though both KitchenAid mixers produced perfect layers, the Bosch and Nutrimill churned out cakes that were airy and delicious. If you bake a lot of cake, any of these mixers work great, but we still lean towards KitchenAid (5-quart for single batches, 6-quart for double).
