I blew up my Kenwood mixer a couple of weeks ago and, after chatting to a few people on CC, bought a second hand Kitchenaid. I excitedly unpacked it today and started making a triple-batch of cupcakes.

I put it on speed one and it seemed so fast, flour started flying out! I haven't turned it on any faster, is this normal or could it be something is wrong with it? My Kenwood would only start throwing out dry ingredients on the faster settings, the slow setting was really slow.

I have never had flour fly out of my Kitchenaid on the slow setting but I have only made a double batch. Mine goes real slow on speed one.

If it's refurbished (I've bought a couple of those over the years) just know that it was originally returned because something was wrong with it at one time. From my experience, the first thing that goes on the KA is the speed control lever.

"Back in the day" when KA was an American made product and I believe still made by Hoabart, KA was really a good brand. Now they're an average at best import.

I have a new KA mixer and I don't mix dry ingredients (even on the lowest speed) in it for that very reason.

Was there only flour in the bowl? How much flour? A triple batch seems like a lot of flour and depending on the size (is it 4.5, 5 or 6) there is chance that the initial force of the blade starting could have caused flour to come out of the bowl.


Even though speed 1 is the lowest setting, I have had stuff come out of the bowl of when I first turn it on to speed 1. Even trying to incorporate powdered sugar into icing on speed one can cause it to go everywhere so it is possible depending on what is in the bowl.

If you just bought it, you still are well within the 6 month warranty for their refurbished machines.

Which model is it? My original 4.5 qt that I've had forever can do that. But my 6qt pro is designed with a slow start on speed one for that very reason. It goes from stopped to slow, gradually over a few seconds. No dust-up at all. If you have a 6qt pro and you're having this problem, then something is wrong and you should return it.

it's a 4.5.

It's not refurbished, it's second-hand from Ebay.

The mixture was 360g flour, 420g sugar, 4.5 tsps baking powder, and 120g butter.

Did it come with the clear plastic shield you can put around the opening of the bowl to help prevent the dust from filling your kitchen? If not you can buy them as a n accessory. That should help. Other than that, starting up with just dry ingredients can do that. I wouldn't worry about using higher speeds. You just need to get used to the power of your model compared to what you had before.

You have to mix the flour in on the slowest setting before you turn it up. When I first got mine, I had flour or powdered sugar flying around in my kitchen on a regular basis, but now I'm used to it. If you ever need to fill it really full, you can put a clean dishtowel over it until the flour-flinging stage is done.

It's making me sneeze just thinking about it

This may seem like an odd suggestion but if you are not sure if speed 1 one is too fast (you got it from ebay so it could be defective), check out videos of one in operation and see if the speed is similar. A good one for this would be Sugarshack's buttercream video on youtube. She starts out with it on speed 1 (she does have the bowl covered initially but quickly moves the towel). She does bump it up after about 30 seconds of mixing but you do get to see it operating at speed one.

When mixing in the powdered sugar she does mention that she as it one speed one. So again you can see it operating at speed 1. You should get a good sense of what speed 1 looks like from the video. Even though it is speed 1, it is moving pretty quickly.

Did you use speed 1 or STIR? There is a difference. You should add the flour on stir.

And the warning lights just went off in my head - a second hand one off of Ebay. This one is not even a refurbished one. KA does sell refurbished ones, but they have been repaired at the factory, not sold second hand. And like Leah said, refurbished could still have problems too. But yours has not even been looked at if there is a problem. Yeah, the seller on Ebay could have sold you one that they had problems with and didn't want repaired. If I was you I would find someone who has a KA that lives close to you and see if you two can get together and give yours a whirl and see if the speed is off.

Then I would call Whirlpool (the new makers of KA) and find out about getting it serviced. I believe Sears can service them for you.

And the last thing is a triple-batch of cupcakes in a 4.5 is a lot of batter like Cakeprof said. I am assuming that a single batch will make about 18 cupcakes (my usual). By triple batch you mean you were mixing enough batter for 48 cupcakes. That is too much for a KA that size. I have a 5 quart and when I make my red velvet that make 36 cupcakes I know I am at the limit for the amount of batter that will fit in the bowl and not go flying out. You might be able to get away with a double batch, but triple batch - no. You will continue to have the problem you are having.

a batch of my cupcake batter only makes 12, so triple batch is 36. It didn't seem very full, less than half, so I'm not sure that was the problem.

Mine doesn't have a 'stir' option, I'm starting to wonder if I got such a bargain after all or should have spent more on a better one!

I'm in the UK so I'll have to hunt out someone locally who may be able to service it, but I'm not sure how much luck I'll have.

I'll have a look at the video tomorrow, sounds like a good idea - I've just run out of energy and it's past my bedtime! Thanks for all your help guys.