Which Stand Mixer for the CAP Pastry Exam?

If you've decided to take your CAP as an independent candidate, I'm sure you're wondering which stand mixer to choose. It's often a crucial question for amateur pastry chefs. I myself am in love with my KitchenAid Artisan (so much so that when I moved, nobody wanted to carry it for fear of dropping it). So I understand your eagerness — it's definitely way more exciting to choose your mixer than your offset spatula! Let's look together at the best stand mixer for taking the CAP pastry exam as an independent candidate.But before we talk motor size, bowl capacity, and rotation speed, let's ask THE question: is a stand mixer essential for the CAP? And the answer is... no!

Sure, you'll have a mixer available during the exam (sometimes only one for two people), but a stand mixer is absolutely not essential for your revision. ALL CAP recipes can be done by hand: whether it's brioche dough, whipped egg whites, choux pastry... everything is doable (with a good hand whisk). It's often a bit longer but not having a mixer shouldn't hold you back. First, as a pastry chef you need to be able to do everything by hand, and second, it'll help you really understand how the ingredients behave.

Right, once that's cleared up — will you be better off with a mixer? Of course, plus you'll need to use one during the exam and therefore know at least the basics of how it works and which attachment to use. Let's just say it shouldn't hold you back in your training.

Speaking of exams — from what I've seen, training centres are equipped with either KitchenAid (Artisan and sometimes bowl-lift) or Kenwood (Titanium). It's not always easy to handle, especially if it's not your preferred brand (I myself struggled for ages with professional KitchenAids where the bowl clips on instead of screwing in). If you get the chance, I strongly recommend visiting your exam centre to see the equipment they use (maybe even kindly ask for a quick demo). It'll ease your stress (a little) on the big day.

OK fine, that doesn't help you much in the meantime. Practically speaking, what should you get for home? Well, it mainly depends on your budget. I don't regret spending the money on my KitchenAid, but it's clearly not the best value for money on the market. I love its design, its power, and it hasn't budged in almost 10 years. That said, I'm not sure I'd make the same choice today. The stand mixer market has expanded greatly in recent years and more and more "lesser" brands (with big air quotes) offer very solid machines.

The KitchenAid Artisan vs Kenwood Titanium match is mainly a brand war. If you can afford it, you certainly won't regret it. But they're far from essential for home use and lesser-known brands make very good mixers. I'd add that in my opinion it's more practical to have a mid-range mixer with lots of accessories (for example 2 bowls, a flex beater) than to have a beautiful machine and have to combine birthday + Christmas + Mother's Day to afford the tiniest whisk (yes, we're all the same ^^). Also ask yourself what your plans are after the CAP? If it's to make a brioche on Sundays or start your own business, the budget and power you'll need won't be the same.

Now, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend a specific brand having only tested the KitchenAid Artisan, but it seems that the SMEG, the kMix (by Kenwood, used on Le Meilleur Pâtissier) and the Master Chef Gourmet stand out (I'll let you check Christelle's site where she's tested quite a few and done a thorough comparison of the best stand mixers). I think if I had to buy one today on a reasonable budget, I'd go for the kMix (and if money were no object, I'd treat myself to the Cooking Chef Gourmet!).

To finish, I can't stress enough how important it is to look after your mixer. Whatever the brand, you should never let a mixer strain or you'll break a gear (or worse, the motor), and always keep an eye on it when kneading dough because it moves around a lot on the worktop. You wouldn't believe the number of mixers that have ended up on the floor during brioche dough making...