I am not the best person in the world to make cakes or follow recipes so a few months ago someone decided for comedy reasons to get me the Breville SHM2 model which is as you can tell perhaps by the picture is a mixer.

This product is one of those which offers quite a range of features with a few flaws which is kind of the norm I find with electrical products.

You have with this product an excellent stainless steel bowl with a 2 litre capacity for liquid and apparently 1kg capacity for dry food. The bowl fits perfectly in a slot on the mixer which makes sure it doesn't move and slide off.

You also have a wide range of whisks to attach to the top of the mixer which means you can mix up various foods with different strengths. You have some super thick whisks which seem very durable and heavy duty and these can seriously cut through any food it seems.

Then you have some pretty standard and yet weak looking whisks which are actually pretty good. They attach by slotting them into the mixer and this is just a simple amount of pressure and they are locked into place.

I was also given a spatula in white which has come in handy on a few occasions when I forgot to put down grease proof paper resulting in some cooking disasters.

The mixer itself is done in a nice way because you have so many settings to make sure you mix the contents inside the bowl well. You have on the side a little turn dial and this enables you to select a speed and this indicates the speed in which the bowl itself moves.

The bowl moves around on mixer and it can be quick or slow depending on how you feel or what the instructions tell you to do. On the top of the mixer neck you have move buttons as well.

One has a sliding connection as well which lets you use more force with the whisks and the other button in my eyes is there to add more pressure again. I wish I could tell people what it says but my button has nothing on it but when I press it the speed and power seems to pick up.

You have the ability to also take the bowl out of the mixer and loosen the neck of the mixer so it becomes a hand mixer rather than a huge machine. This is particular handy if you are someone who wants to be more hands on with the making of cakes and food.

When it comes to cleaning this device is pretty simple because the bowl detaches easily and with the whisks on the top you can easily press a release button which lets them come down and you can then take them away to clean.

The device is good for plenty of ideas as you can imagine and with me the first time I used it I had a good experience with the biggest flaw this machine has which I shall come to shortly.

I made or attempted to make a cake which was a normal sponge and I was going to have some cream and jam in the centre and I was nervous about using this product at first because I am a wimp with new technology I always panic I will press something and end up regretting it afterwards.

I put in the margarine and sugar and just turn the whisks onto the slowest setting with the bowl spinning and it took about a minute and the contents were so smooth and looked excellent. When it came to later using the flour the contents were thicker so I used more speed and it seemed effortless for this mixer to produce excellent results.

One of the problems throughout the making of this cake was the deafening sound which is just over the top. If you turn this mixer to the top setting and the maximum power you cannot hear a thing going on elsewhere it is so noisy.

I think in some ways this is kind of the biggest drawback because there is little else wrong with this mixer besides the sound. It can sometimes drive you mad and occasionally I power down the machine and mix the contents myself by hand which is quite an effort.

The final problem I have had is that when I have got to the final stage of a cake and the flour has been added and the bowl is spinning around the contents on the side of the bowl do not get mixed in so you have to try and use a knife to go round the edges to knock the contents inside.

This happens because the whisks are in the centre and never quite reach the sides that well or the bottom sometimes you have crumbs left which in theory should have been mixed in very well.

In my view in terms of convenience this is an excellent item because it saves time, it can be stored away very easily and there are plenty of essentials added with this item which helps. The cleaning is easy to do and there provide you with many options to make sure you never have a problem.

The biggest drawback is the terrible sound this device makes but other than that I found little else wrong. I have made cakes so many times now using this mixer and it has given me confidence which is always a good thing to have.

The price can vary for this item and it can be found on Amazon and other retailers.

Below are some of the key bits of information.

380w Motor with 10 speeds
3.2kg in weight