We all know that when it comes to baking, using a stand mixer will help ensure light and airy cakes, well-developed doughs and velvety smooth icing-not to mention save you lots of time and hard work.
But while you may not immediately associate food processors with baking, these kitchen multi-taskers can definitely rise to the challenge of tackling a range of home-baking tasks. Our versatile range of powerful food processors come with a large number of features and attachments that can be used to chop, mix, whisk and knead your ingredients, as well as a variable speed setting to ensure you have complete control and flexibility as you work. So whether you’re a whizz when it comes to folding and stiff peaks, or just starting out, we’ll show you just how useful a food processor can be when you’re baking.
What baking tasks can a food processor help with?
Food processors are usually primarily used to chop, slice, grate and mix large quantities of ingredients. All these functions are of course useful when you’re baking, for instance when you need cubed butter for your pastry mix. But they can do so much more besides. Here's just some of the ways using a food processor for baking will save you time and effort, and help deliver delicious results.
Kneading pastry for sweet and savoury pies
If you’re looking to use your food processor to help you knead dense pastry dough you need to ensure it has both a powerful enough motor and a generous bowl capacity to take on the task. The MultiPro Excel’s 1300W motor and 4 litre bowl means it’s more than up to the job. Use the knife blade attachment to knead the ingredients; the variable speed settings will help ensure you don’t over knead the dough. If you’re not sure what speed to use, the auto speed function will select the right setting for what you’re doing.
Cake or batter mixtures
The knife blade can mix cake batters quickly and evenly. For some recipes you can use the dual metal whisk to cream butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy.
Chopping nuts
A food processor makes light work of chopping large quantities of nuts. Simply fit the knife blade attachment and add the nuts to the main bowl. Use the variable speed settings to control how smooth of a consistency you end up with. Smaller quantities can also be chopped using the multi-mill attachment.
Creating nut butter
Nut butters like almond butter are great to use in baking, adding an extra taste dimension to homemade biscuits or muffins. It’s so easy to make your own nut butter using a food processor, and the best bit is you can mix up your flavours to create your own perfect blend (you can add seeds, too).
Simply add your chosen nuts to the bowl and blend down using the knife blade to create a rough paste. Add oil to get the consistency you’re looking for.
Creating whipped cream
Use a food processor to make whipped cream, without any worktop mess. The MultiPro’s unique dual metal whisk attachment slots onto the spindle in the centre of the bowl and works with the lid in place. Once the whisk is attached pour the cream into the bowl, replace the lid and whisk. To allow more air to get in to the mix, remove the feed tube pusher while you whisk-this will speed things up, too.
Blending fruits
Blend small amounts of fresh fruits like soft berries to make a quick puree to add to cream and buttercream for your baking creations. Freeze-dried fruit also packs a real extra flavour punch to buttercream. Use your multi-mill attachment to grind into a fine powder, creating the perfect consistency to then blend into a buttercream that’s super smooth and easy to pipe onto cakes and cupcakes.
Making cakes with a food processor
Making cakes with a food processor
Need a last minute cake for some impromptu guests or a forgotten birthday? This is where a food processor can really save the day. Most cakes made with food processors are made using the ‘all in one’ method, where all the ingredients are put into the bowl at the same time and whizzed together using the knife blade until evenly mixed into a cake batter. For best results make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature, as the butter needs to be really soft to keep the blades clear.
What are the differences between a food processor and stand mixer?
As well as being able to make light work of food preparation in a matter of seconds, food processors can handle a wide range of baking tasks quickly and efficiently, from chopping, grinding and mixing to whisking, whipping and kneading. They are ideal if you enjoy occasional baking but don’t have the budget or space to have a separate stand mixer as well.
If you’re a keen home baker, stand mixers are designed especially for you. Their key strengths are kneading, mixing and whisking and their generous bowl capacity means you can bake in large quantities. Various additional attachments are available for our stand mixers which you can use for slicing or grinding, but primarily a stand mixer is designed to help you mix, whisk and knead with ease.
Explore the Kenwood range
Packed full of intuitive features, our range of food processors come in various capacities and with a wide selection of high quality, robust attachments to help make pretty much any food prep task quicker and easier, so you have the time to enjoy creating your next dish or bake.
