Early on, I found that investing in good quality equipment really made all the difference in cake making. In fact, quality everything makes all the difference in cake making. That everything means fresh, quality ingredients, too.
Of course, it goes without saying, I didn’t always have what I have today and so it’s sometimes very necessary to just “make do” with what you’ve got until your situation allows for acquiring more pieces, appliances, whatever.
Initially, I had a three-piece set of mixing bowls and hand mixer to blend cakes, then my mother-in-law bought me an Oster ‘Kitchen Center’ and, my-o-my, did I ever feel like I was in heaven. It was three appliances in one: two glass mixing bowls, a blender and a food processor! Seriously, it was quite a machine! I so appreciated all it allowed me to do with relative ease! I think back on days before I had that machine, shredding carrots or zucchini, chopping nuts and fruits for cakes, and then how simple the new Kitchen Center made each of those tasks!
Along the way, a KitchenAid made its grand entrance into my life and it seems, from that moment on, I was/am forever hooked on the KitchenAid appliances. Any of them, all of them. It’s KitchenAid love, for sure. 🙂
I learned the hard (and wasted money) way that “commercial” scales, mixing bowls, measuring bowls, cups, spoons, whisks, spatulas, etc., are so worth investing in, as they long outlast “cheap” equipment — and, as for measuring, they’re more accurate, too. The same goes for baking pans! The difference between baking in a “cheap” cake pan and a commercial one is truly significant. I have some cake pans that I’ve regularly used for thirty years and they’re as perfect today as they were when I first got them. All the commercial cake pans I’ve purchased along the way are in great condition. I try to buy them all in three’s so that for every tier, I have three pans in each size/shape. This has taken years to accomplish/acquire. But I follow the same rule of thumb: good equipment is so worth investing in.
This is the side of cake making that gets overlooked when pricing cakes — all the the equipment is the most necessary component to the baker, but to the one seeking the cake, the cake is the thing. The cake’s the only thing.
