A Kenwood Mixer called Ken, who makes fantastic Christmas Cakes and Memories.

My Kenwood Mixer is about as old as I am. It used to belong to my Nan, but because of the weight and the size of it, it stayed in her kitchen cupboard just thinking about the old days when it was used all the time. One weekend when I was down at my Nan's, not too long before Christmas, she asked if I would like to have her Kenwood Mixer. I think that I got it out of the cupboard then and there and went and put it in my car before she could change her mind. This was the mixer which had made the all important Christmas Cake for the last *cough* twenty-one *cough* years and goodness knows how many other treats through out the years. When I got Ken home (Yes, my mixer is a he and therefore called Ken) I put him up on the side in my kitchen. No cupboard for Ken at our house. The first thing that I made in Ken was the Christmas Cake.

As Daddy is cealiac and neither of us drink any alcohol, buying a wheat free, gluten free, alcohol free Christmas Cake is no easy task. Unless you go to Marks and Spencers, were they have a jolly nice one and for a fairly reasonable price too. Anyhow it worked out easier for me to just make my own Christmas cake. Following the very old Kenwood Mixer Recipe book that came home from my Nans (I am also hoping to bring home the woodwork book, the family Bible and a couple of other cookbooks in the future. Each of the books means something important to me so it's not just because they are vintage and probably cost a fortune!). I have made various other things in Ken since that first Christmas cake (I find that Ken makes my Yorkshire Batter mixture very nicely) but it is always when I make a Christmas Cake that I feel that Ken is at his best.

I love making Christmas Cake. The tingle in your nose as you smell the mixture of spices, the heaped pile of glistening fruit ready to be folded into and covered by a golden cake batter and the logic behind the order of what to do what in. It's not surprise, to me at least, that I like cooking because of the lists. I like writing lists and what better list than details of ingredients and the method in which to make a cake? 

I love Ken. I love the noise he makes when he is gently mixing. It is a purring sound, a sound that isn't jarring like some of the more modern mixers. I love that he still has a smell that reminds me of my childhood and making cakes with my Nan. I know that Kenwood Mixers last for years. I am hoping that the memories that I have of my Nan and  Ken will be similar to the memories that I create with Top Ender and Baby Boy with Ken..