Ankarsrum Assistent Original food mixer review

This model comes supplied with many useful attachments for everyday baking, cake making and patisserie tasks, but there are also a wealth of accessories available to buy for everything from pasta making to smoothies, making this a truly multifunctional piece of kit.

• Read the full olive best stand mixers review.

How easy is the Ankarsrum Assistent Original food mixer to use?

Whether you’re used to traditional stand mixers or not, you’ll need to consult the manual to work out how to put this machine together. Thankfully, a comprehensive and detailed manual is supplied.

All parts slot together with absolute ease. For any dough making tasks, you’ll need to choose the 7-litre branded stainless steel bowl and for meringues and cake mixes, use the 3.5-litre clear plastic bowl.

The control panel is a simple two-dial affair. One dial turns the machine on and doubles as a timer that automatically runs the Ankarsrum for up to 12 minutes. The second dial controls the speed of the machine, which, as the dial is turned, gradually and smoothly accelerates. The machine gets up to an impressive speed when on high thanks to its 1500 watt motor, making it ideal for quick whipped meringues and cream.

The wide, open bowl makes adding ingredients while the machine is running a breeze. Though take care to keep the speed down low when adding light ingredients like flour and sugar to ensure the spinning bowl doesn’t shoot floury plumes out the sides.

For bread dough, the open bowl was an especially welcome feature; it allowed us to watch the progress of our dough better than any other stand mixer, as well as reach in to feel the change. If you’re like us and you’re captivated by processes when it comes to cooking, you’ll find this machine as mesmerising to watch as we did. The open bowl allowed us to watch the texture of the dough change before our eyes. The dough roller attachment treated the dough gently, almost mimicking the process of hand-kneading. Plus, the dough knife that anchored itself to the side of the bowl meant that every bit of dough was scraped back into the mix.

Our one and only gripe with this machine came when we made our chocolate fudge cake. After we’d mixed all the ingredients, we noticed a layer of unmixed batter coating the inside of the bowl. While we only needed to scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula, almost every other machine we’ve tested has been able to fully incorporate the mix.

Results

This model whipped up stiff-peaked meringue with speed and precision. Our chocolate fudge cake was well-risen and moist, though we did notice some inconsistency in texture as a result of the unmixed batter which needed to be folded in by hand.

This model excelled on our bread making test. In fact, we couldn’t quite believe the results. Once baked, our cardamom buns had a delicate, soft open texture: far and away the most professional results of all the stand mixers we’ve tested.

olive’s take: should you buy the Ankarsrum Assistent Original?

This is the stand mixer that stole our hearts. Attractive and confidently assured in its uniqueness, the Ankarsrum is quite simply a joy to use.

It struggled slightly on our cake making test, so we’d advise keeping a rubber spatula on hand to scrape down the sides. But our meringues were light and fluffy. If you’re into bread making though, this is the one and only machine you should be buying. It kneaded dough with a delicacy and respect usually only produced by hand kneading and the results were professional quality.

• Available from Borough Kitchen (£649), Amazon (£655)

Ankarsrum Assistent Original Food Mixer specifications

Wattage: 1500W
Product weight: 8.9kg
Size (cm): H 36 X W 27 X D 40
Speed settings: continuous
Capacity of bowl(s): 7L, 3.5L
Attachments included: dough roller, dough knife, dough hook, spatula, bowl cover, wire beaters, balloon whisk

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