I'd never heard of this alternative-style stand mixer before, but it's a hidden gem

Think of stand mixers and the beautiful, shiny KitchenAid's from the Great British Bake Off may well spring to mind. But stand mixers come in all shapes and sizes, and Morphy Richards' MixStar is the epitome of substance over style.

To my very pleasant surprise, the MixStar arrived fully assembled and ready to go. And when I mean ready to go, it's the most simple device to just start using immediately. I did refer to the instructions to use and remove the attachments and set a timer at a later stage, but I just jumped straight in with making some bread, finding it very easy to navigate the very minimal input you need to get this thing working.

Considering I am used to conventional stand mixers, with a tilt-head design and overreaching stand, I was expecting a bit of a learning curve, but alas, there was none. The MixStar does everything from the ground up, with a bowl attached to a base that you attach whichever mixer you require to and then place a lid on top. The design feels more like a blender, actually, the basin lid featuring a removable panel to add ingredients while mixing but avoid any mess or overspill.

The blueprint is smaller than many of the best stand mixers, but it still requires a decent amount of space. However, where it really excels is the handy storage caddy inside the basin to keep all the attachments safe when it's not in use. As someone with an extremely small kitchen and very little space, this is a welcome and much appreciated design aspect. I tried all the attachments and it handled all the baking I threw at it with ease – albeit noisily. Here's all the details.

Specifications

Unboxing

As previously mentioned, the Morphy Richards MixStar arrives assembled bar the attachment you want to use. A small detail but one I really appreciated as it saved me from trying to figure out how it all fits together. It also comes complete with little flashcards with pictures of the attachments and the type of ingredients best suited to each - which also stores neatly in the caddy so you don't lose them.

Speaking of the caddy, it fits all the attachments - which are either non-stick plastic or metal with non-stick coating – in really neatly, and lifts out of the bowl smooth and easily. The main body consists of a four-litre mixing bowl with clear plastic lid with removable panel to add ingredients mess-free mid-mix.

The base features four non-slip feet, which are surprisingly strong and really hold the mixer in place well. This is great in use and if you have a fixed spot for it, but slightly more tricky if you need to move it around often. The cord is a decent length, I just wish it had some form of storage for any length not in use.

Who would it suit?

If, like me, you have a very small kitchen, the Morphy Richards MixStar is a solid stand mixer choice. That said, while it is compact in certain respects, it not a small appliance, which requires a good 30cm-squared area of space on a kitchen top. Where it wins is being able to place all the accessories neatly inside, and the overall shape makes it much easier to store than that of a conventional design. For a super space-saving design, the Kenwood Go stand mixer is unbeatable.

The Morphy Richards MixStar is one of the lighter stand mixers on the market, meaning it's easier to lift and move around (if the feet aren't stuck, that is). But there is no carry handle or fixture to grip on to pick it up, and the round shape makes it quite cumbersome to hold. The storage caddy slips in and out of the bowl easily, and the attachments are simple to add and remove.

This doesn't have the visually pleasing aesthetic one might associate with more expensive stand mixers, but this is a good £200 cheaper than the more luxury options, so if you're not overly bothered what it looks like, at just under £190, the value here is hard to beat.

What is it like to use?

The answer, in short, is simple. Really simple. Simply turn the dial to one of the six speed settings, which you can change at any point, and off you go. All the attachments slot and twist lock into place and there are no height restrictions due to it having no tilting arm (which is very helpful when you have very low cupboard hanging over the counter top).

One thing I did find when doing the whipped cream test was the mixer needs a certain volume of ingredients to work properly. Let me explain, the 300ml double cream I poured in to the bowl sat so flat, the whisk attachments couldn't reach it so I had to swap to the plastic mixers. Probably rare you'd use it with such small quantities but worth baring in mind.

The biggest downside to this stand mixer, however, is the noise. I live in a house with three young children, none of whom are afraid to let themselves known, and two of them came from another room to ask me to 'turn it down'. When I explained I couldn't (with a raised voice over the noise) they left with their hands covering their ears. I have used a number of stand mixers now, and this is, by far, the loudest one I have tested – even on the lowest speed setting.

Test 1: bread

The first thing I tested making the Morphy Richards MixStar with was a loaf of plain white bread. I made the decision to sieve the dough in, which, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea as much of it landed on the mixing arm in the middle, however it quickly folded in once it kicked into action. And it was that simple.

Threw all the ingredients in, let it knead for 10 minutes and voila - I had the most silky bread dough ready for proofing. I watched the dough arm kick it around, worried it would get stuck in one place, but it really worked the whole area, and the in-built scraper meant anything left behind quickly got picked up and added back to the main lump.

Taking the dough out of the machine, it was silky smooth and elastic, and I did little to it before placing in an oil-wiped bowl to sit for an hour. It rose incredibly well, and then again after I hit the air out and stretched it one last time. The final result was a beautiful, springy with a chewy crust loaf, which left my kids suitably impressed with my baking skills (and no, I didn't tell them I had little to do with it).

Test 2: cake

With no less than four family birthdays in early February, I have been putting the MixStar to good use with making cakes. Starting with a plain sponge, I simply threw all the ingredients in together and voila! Minutes later I had the creamiest, smoothest batter mixture for my daughter's third birthday cake. I popped the speed to two, and left it there for the duration and it was, well, effortless.

I managed to get enough mixture in to make two large round sponges (although I did think I had maybe overfilled at one point). The amount of time this saved, rather than doing two individual cakes by hand made me very, very happy - because we all know decorating is the best part. I also tried a blueberry muffin mixture as I wanted to see how it would manage the delicate berries. I was half expecting it to look like a blood bath, but on the lowest setting, it simply pushed them around gently, and there was little in the way of splitting. Anything higher, however, and I'm pretty sure it would have looked like something out of a horror film.

Making basic cake mixtures with this is a cinch, but you'd expect that, right? What I really wanted to see was how the MixStar would handle making a crumble topping, as these are all about control and feeling when the mixture is right. I was keen to see how the MixStar would fare with cold, hard butter and mixing that into the flour. And I was impressed. Using the plastic mixers, the MixStar worked the mixture in to small, light lumps really quite quickly. There was still the odd big lump here and there, but overall, it created a lovely crumb in a fraction of the time it would take me to do it by hand.

My next test is a fruit cake, because in this house they aren't just for Christmas. I'll be sure to update this review when I put it through its fruity paces.

Test 3: whipped cream

The Morphy Richards MixStar made light work of whipping up a tub of double cream – when it could reach it, that is. The design of the bowl meant the whisk attachments couldn't reach the 300ml of double cream sat flat at the bottom, so I switched to the plastic mixers, which just about managed it after I threw in a little icing sugar to bulk it up. Once it got a grip, on the fastest (and loudest) setting, the cream was thick within a couple of minutes.

Cleaning

I realise I may well be the only person in the world who doesn't own a dishwasher, but alas, here I am, sans dishwasher and just make trusty hands to wash up with. That said, the MixStar bowl and accessories are all dishwasher safe so everyone else is covered. But I like to leave mixers to soak a little, just to make sure any bits of mixture residue lifts from smaller nooks and crannies.

The bowl I used a microfibre cloth and the non-scratch side of a washing sponge to avoid any scratches while cleaning - same with the bread dough arm. Everything else was super-easy to clean as normal, and even easier to dry and put back together.

Should you buy it?

If you're a budding baker, who cares more about what a stand mixer can do than what it looks like and are tight on storage space, the MixStar is a worthy option. For the price, you get a lot of functionality and baking options done in a fraction of the time if doing by hand. It's sturdy, well built, despite sounding like it will take off on the highest setting, and the in-built storage is a game-changer if you lack space. This is a no-frills, does the job without looking pretty stand mixer, which, if you can deal with the higher than average noise levels, is a solid investment.

How we test

At woman&home, how we test stand mixers is a serious process. We like to get the bake down on all the models that you need to know about, so that you can find out exactly what you're buying before you part with the precious cash.