My KitchenAid stand mixer has to be one of my most used kitchen gadgets – and I’ve got quite a few. One of the first things I noticed after I got my KitchenAid though was that I had to constantly stop and scrape down the sides, which was not really what I was after – isn’t the whole idea of getting a stand mixer so that you save time?
I couldn’t decide between KitchenAid’s Flex Edge or the BeaterBlade, so the lovely peeps at Kitchen Warehouse have sent me both to test and review. One thing is clear – both are infinitely better than the standard paddle attachment that comes with the mixer. I tested all of them with 150g of butter and a batch of gingerbread.
In case, you (like me) didn’t read the instruction manual – it’s worth noting that there’s a little screw located underneath the mixer head that you can turn to raise or lower the mixing bowl, this is so that the beater or whip reaches the absolute bottom of the bowl and you’re not left with that little bit of un-mixed batter.
KitchenAid Flat Coated Beater (also called paddle attachment)
This is the standard beater that comes with the mixer. It’s made of metal and has an enamel coating. It’s solidly made but as you can see, there’s a tendency for butter to collect in the bottom half of the paddle.
There’s also a lot of butter on the sides of the bowl, which is especially a problem for smaller batches of batter. Because the paddle tends to push ingredients around, every so often you have to stop and scrape down the bowl which is a little fidgety as the beater is still locked in place so you have to maneuvre around it. I rarely use mine anymore – it’s really worth investing in one of the other beaters.
It took 25 seconds to cream 150g of butter with the paddle attachment.
KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater – $74
This is KitchenAid’s answer to the scrape down the bowl problem. It’s basically their standard coated flat beater, but with a nifty silicone edge that it scrapes the sides of the bowl as it mixes. It claims to reduce your mixing time considerably, which it does – the butter was ready in half the time.
Unfortunately, it does push the ingredients onto the sides of the bowl and doesn’t really scrape it down as well as I would’ve likI ed. I found the mixture did collect on the bottom half of the paddle (though a lot less) and with larger batches of dough, it pushed the dough up and over the top edge of the paddle. The dough wasn’t as well mixed as would’ve liked – there was a tiny knob in the bottom that seemed to have been missed.
It took 12 seconds to cream 150g of butter with the FlexEdge beater. The FlexEdge comes with a one year replacement warranty.
BeaterBlade (no longer stocked)
The BeaterBlade, made by a company called New Metro Design and imported by an Australian company called Fully Baked, is a third party product. Unlike the other two, it’s made of a thick plastic and both outer edges have a flexible silicone edge – this seems to avoid the tiny bit of unmixed batter that gathers at the dimple in the bottom of the bowl. Despite being made of plastic, less butter seems to cling to the paddle making it easier to scrape down at the end of a recipe. Most of the batter stays in the bottom half of the mixing bowl, and the thinner silicone seems to be more effective at scraping the batter off the sides of the bowl. The downside though – my BeaterBlade cracked when I made the gingerbread. I called the importer who assured me that it was an isolated issue but a quick Google search seems to show otherwise – it’s covered by a 1 year warranty, and a replacement was quickly despatched.
Update July 2018: Darnit, I really liked the BeaterBlade but without an Australian distributor I can’t recommend buying it as it will be almost impossible to replace if it breaks, even under warranty. I would put it in the ‘not worth the hassle’ basket.
It took 8 seconds to cream 150g of butter with the BeaterBlade. It comes with a one year replacement warranty. (see above)
The verdict
Despite being made of plastic, I preferred the BeaterBlade. There’s less residual dough on the sides of the mixing bowl and having two flexible silicone edges means that mixing time is slightly quicker than the FlexEdge. Ingredients are more evenly mixed through the batter and the residual batter is easier to scrape off the beater. It’s also cheaper than the FlexEdge. (This item is no longer stocked in Australia). The downside is though, that mine did crack when I made a reasonably soft gingerbread dough.
The FlexEdge is much more solid and built to last. I still feel like I need to scrape down the beater and sides – very rarely, but I do have to do it every so often. That said, it is probably almost impossible to break as it is solid metal and will last much longer.
The BeaterBlade is not really designed for heavy doughs though, so if you’re living in a colder climate (where butter will be more solid at room temperature), or you routinely mix big batches of dough, I’d opt for KitchenAid’s FlexEdge – it’s effective and does the job well.
If you have any questions – I’d love to hear them, feel free to post them below.
Just found your blog!
We used the plastic blades at N2. They worked great, but broke within a few months. This probably translates to a few years with normal use. 😛
Great to know bc I jut purchased the BeaterBlade with the purchase of my new Kitchenaid mixer! Quick question about the screw that lowers/raises the attachment to reach the bottom batter…Do you want to lower it until the beaterblade is actually touching the bowl? I am new at baking and any tips would help, thanks in advanced!
You’re going to love it – both the KA and the BeaterBlade! The BeaterBlade is made of plastic with rubber wings, so don’t do the beater to bowl adjustment with it as you could do some damage. Remember not to use it to mix heavy doughs though.
The beater to blade clearance adjustment instructions are on the KitchenAid site and I’ve copied and pasted them here for reference.
Instructions on how to adjust the beater to bowl clearance are listed in your KitchenAid Mixer User Care Guide or also listed below:
– Unplug the mixer from the electrical wall socket
– Put the flat beater and bowl onto mixer
– Put the mixer head down, slide an envelope or folded piece of paper between the beater and the bowl (I use a couple of lentils as I thought two pieces of paper to be too small). The beater should not be touching the bottom of the bowl. The correct clearance is the thickness of the two pieces of paper.
– If the beater is too high, there is too much space between bowl and beater, you need to lower the beater.
– If you can’t slide the paper under the beater or it is too tight, you will need to raise the beater.
– To adjust the height of the beater: lift the head up, you should see a rectangle hole with a flat head screw.
– Turn the screw counter clockwise or left to raise the beater.
– Turn the screw clockwise or right to lower the beater.
– Each time only turn the screw about a ¼ turn at a time and test again with the paper.
– You may need to adjust the screw a number of times, or you may only need to turn the screw slightly to get it to exactly the right height.
– If the head height is too low, the beater will touch the bottom of the bowl and wear the paint on the tip of the beater.
– If the head height is too high, not all the mixture will combine as some will be left in the bottom of the bowl, below the beaters.
Don’t bother with the flex-edge beater, it is a waste of money. As you said, the butter gets pushed up flex edge of the beater and deposits at the top of the bowl and needs to be scraped down. I put in a complain through the appropriate channel and included photos only to be told about the adjustment of the screw, which makes no difference. I feel it is a design fault of the flex edge beater. I have found using the original beater and ensuring the butter is VERY soft beats it far better with less stops to scrap down the butter/dough. Very disappointed with the customer service at KitchenAid (or lack there of).
I wonder if the beater blade is available for the lift mixer ?
Don’t know how I missed this comment – my apologies for a tardy reply Terese. The company who gave me these to test was also surprised that the cheaper BeaterBlade beat out KitchenAid which are usually known for good design. I’m pretty sure BeaterBlade make models for most of the popular KA models – just look it up.
METRO DESIGN Beater Blades BROKE 2X! They’re not up to the task of making cookies that uses a 3c. Flour recipe. Very disappointed.
That’s no good at all. I find it useful but quality is the most important and breaking twice is no good at all. You should write to the manufacturer or the place you purchased it from. Let me know how you go.