Smeg's retro hand mixer puts the 'king' in baking - I'm convinced it's the best

Smeg's 40s Style Hand Mixer is the 'king' in baking. Stylish, robust, and easy to use, I'm convinced there isn't any better model out there.

Until you own a hand mixer you won’t realise just how much they can do for you in your kitchen. The best hand mixers can whip, knead, and mix quicker than you can say “I feel like baking today,” but only a select few can look as good as the Smeg 50s Retro Hand Mixer whilst doing it.

I took this for a spin in my kitchen, testing out the bold, red colour. It’s bright, it’s brilliant, and I think I’ve talked myself into buying one. Whoops.

Specifications

Unboxing

Smeg has been incredibly smart in how they package their 50s Hand Mixer. The body doesn’t look like it should fit into the slim, light box that it arrives in — and yet it does. All of the packaging is recyclable (pick tick from a sustainability perspective) and you get some neat, premium extras with your main, stylish stand mixer.

Aside from the shiny red main body, you’ll find a smart, Smeg-branded, drawstring bag that contains dough hooks, balloon whisks, and mixers. These all feel thick and durable. In fact, the whole appliance is really well made. Sometimes, Smeg can feel a little overpriced, but this is one of those instances in which I think it’s worth every penny.

Who would it suit?

Smeg puts the style conscious at the top of their priority list, so if you want to store this on the counter or use it to show off to your friends, you’ve found the perfect stand mixer. Even though the attachments, on paper, look fairly standard, the way this looks and feels transforms it into a seriously luxurious hand mixer.

It’s also a great option if you want nuances and some extra special details integrated into the design of your mixer. The control panel on top, whilst subtle, lights up with an LED display, letting you toggle between speed settings with complete ease. There’s no flicking past the wrong speed setting, just easy, simple tapping.

Naturally, this comes at a hefty price point and you could save some money by opting for something that’s a little less easy on the eye, but why compromise? If you’re a regular baker, I can’t recommend this enough.

What is it like to use?

Setting up the Smeg 50s Retro Hand Blender is easy. You’ve got two slots in which you’ll insert your attachments and then an LED screen top with three buttons. These will let you toggle between turning the hand mixer on and off as well as selecting the speed, from 1 through to 9.

There’s a wide handle, which is easy to grip hold of, whether you’re left or right handed as well as a flat end for standing the hand mixer on when it’s not in use. See what I mean? Simple.

Test 1: cake

I have a standard test that I put all my mixers through, which is making cookies or cakes. Both require you to cream butter and sugar together and then incorporate wet and dry ingredients. I’ve made chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies with this hand mixer. The first was for a formal test and the others were just because I was enjoying myself.

The attachments made light work of creaming my butter and sugar together and then deftly incorporated flour, eggs, and even my chocolate chips into the mix. Sometimes bigger chunks of chocolate can get caught in the whisk, stopping the mixers from turning, but not here. My cookie dough came together perfectly, even if I do say so myself.

Test 2: bread

I always make sure to test whisking both double cream and vegan cream with hand mixers, because this is a great measure for the power of any whisk. Bigger appliances, such as stand mixers, can turn double cream into marshmallow-like peaks within less than two minutes, but hand mixers often need a little longer.

Both my double cream and vegan cream came in around the same time, 2.43 and 2.56 respectively, which is really quick for a hand mixer. I held it the whole time and didn’t have any buzzing or shaking transferred up my arm, so it was actually really easy to keep held in place.

Test 3: whipped cream

My final test is how well the hand mixer can knead bread dough, which is often the toughest task, since the gluten and thickness of bread often poses heavy resistance against the hand mixer.

I made a spiced, white loaf with 500g of flour, about enough to suit a family and the Smeg was seriously impressive. The dough hooks integrated my oil and water with the yeast and flour as effortlessly as it whipped up the cream. As the dough came together, I noticed that I had to brace the bowl and hang on to the hand mixer a little tighter, but it still did the job. Most importantly, my dough felt smooth and elastic when I turned it out onto the surface to knead by hand. I couldn’t have done better myself. Did I mention that it only took five minutes too?

Cleaning

All of the attachments are dishwasher safe, so you can leave your machine to clean then up. However, they’re so small and easy to wipe clean that I’ve ended up doing them myself. You'll have a lot less wear and tear on them in the long run.

Of course, you can't pop the body in the dishwasher, so make sure that you wipe away any grease or crumbs that end up on the hand mixer in the inevitably messy process of baking. A clean, damp cloth should do the job.

Should you buy it?

I didn't think that I needed a hand mixer until I tested the Smeg 50s Style Hand Mixer and now I have three in my basket. My only decision left to make is which colour I want and it's proven to be the hardest one to make. Any help would be very welcome.