When I opened the box it was there in all its glory. It looked different to the ones I remember, the use of quality plastics and shiny white finish means its look and feel fits right in with the smartphone generation.

This product hasn’t just aged well, it’s gone back to school and got a degree in design and engineering!

There is a nice weight to the Chef, adding to the feel of quality. It comes with three attachments out of the box – a whisk, k-beater and dough hook. Lot’s more attachments are available separately, making your Chef even more indispensable.

Putting it together the attachments click and lock in to the machine with sturdy satisfaction. You just know the Chef will handle anything you throw at it for years to come.

So I decided to put it through its paces, and what better than…

Raspberry Pavlova

Serves 2-4

For the meringue

• Whites of 4 Medium Eggs
• 200g/7 oz Caster Sugar
• 1 Tsp Cornflour
• ½ Tsp Cider Vinegar

The fillings

• 250 ml/8.5 fl oz Double Cream
• 300g/10 oz Fresh or Frozen Raspberries
• 2 Tbsp Castor Sugar

It is simple to make, the only hard part being the huge amount of whipping required. This is something the Kenwood Chef excels at.

Set your oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2. If you are not using fresh, remove your frozen raspberries from the freezer to defrost if you are making the finished Pavlova on the same day.

Take the eggs and crack carefully, then pull apart over the bowl of the whisking bowl making sure only the white drips in, keeping the yolk in the shell. Remove the yolks to a different bowl.

Turn on your Chef and whisk on high, the motor feels powerful and the Chef has a great action. I could watch it spinning round and round inside the bowl all day!  Mix until the eggs white froth and soft peaks appear. This is easy to check by turning off and lifting the whisk up.

Now whisk again on high adding your sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Just give a few seconds between spoonfuls and you will see the egg whites are becoming really white, and the texture is getting thicker.

Once your sugar is all in and mixed in well check that you have achieved firm peaks. The total whipping time is about 4-5 minutes.

Now add your cornflour and vinegar and fold in very gently, the spatula that comes with the Chef is perfect. Try not to “knock out” the air you have just whisked in.

Place a sheet of grease proof paper on a baking tray and blob the mix into 4 separate meringues. Roughing up the top of your meringues is not only fun but they will look so good when they are cooked.

Place in the middle of your preheated oven for 1 hour. Once done remove from the oven and set the baking tray down somewhere to fully cool.

Once cool the meringues can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Take half of your raspberries and put into a pan with a splash of water and the 2 Tbsp of caster sugar. On a medium to high heat smash the raspberries up and stir well breaking the berries up against the side of the pan. Keep reducing until you have a thick syrup (TIP: You can speed things up by adding a teaspoon of cornflour to the syrup to thicken it)

Strain the syrup through a sieve into a bowl and squeeze the raspberries through. You should end up with a sieve full of seeds and thick rich raspberry syrup in the bowl below. Leave to completely cool.

When you are ready to serve whip the double cream until firm. The Chef did this in just 30 seconds!

Now construct your Pavlova layering the meringue, cream and raspberries then repeat and finish with a good drizzle of your raspberry syrup. As you can see from the picture they look amazing!

This is an excellent choice around Christmas, as it’s light yet luxurious. Raspberries are the great in this dish as they add great flavour and a little sharpness to balance the sweet, creamy Pavlova. Even out of season the frozen ones are perfect and give you a little taste of the summer in the cold of winter.

The Kenwood Chef should be on your Christmas list

It’s the perfect gift for the budding chef in your life, or even as a treat for yourself! Once you use it you will understand why this product is a timeless classic and takes pride of place in kitchens across the country.

The Kenwood Chef is available along with a range of other great Kenwood products  at Argos.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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