Hi every one and good morning from bonnie scotland I have a problem when mixing my cake batter. I follow the instructions and cream my sugar and butter then I add the eggs a little at a time, then low and behold my mix starts to separate.
This never used to happen when I used an electric hand whisk but I bought a second hand kenwood chef which by the way you have to stand over and hold down when using as the catch is broken so much for hands free.
Anyway am I doing something wrong does the kenwood require less mixing time or slower speed?
If you can find it in your kind hearts to help it will stop me pulling out my hair and going baldy my husband would really appreciate it.

You guys rock

Are your ingredients at room temperature? I find that if mine are not then after creaming it starts to separate and look kind of curdly if the ingredients are chilled. I HTH!

When mine look that way, I speed up the mixer and they blend back together again.

your mix will separate when you add the eggs if you have the beaters running on a high speed - you want the beaters on low speed when adding the eggs. You can also try beating the eggs first so the fats from the yolks are mixed in with the water in the whites. I can't remember the exact science of it, but remember seeing Alton Brown on the Food Network explaining why adding the eggs on low was important.

Edited to say that the above poster is correct - if your butter was room temperature and your eggs are cold, the cold eggs start to solidify the butter and it will look curdled.

I have to agree with the temperature suggestion. All my ingredients are brought to room temp before using, otherwise the cold eggs will make the butter start to chunk up and look separated. Keep at it! You'll get it.

many thank to you all for all your help and advice

I agree with all the above posts, also if your mix starts to seperate add just a little of the flour, that will help to bring it all back together. HTH