fawn said:rdcast, thanks for that suggestion, i'll take note of that
Are you using a Kitchenaid mixer? They look nice and are very trendy, but in my opinion, they're highly overrated, precisely for the reason you mention: the beaters don't come close to the bottom of the bowl, leaving large amounts of unbeaten ingredients. I sold mine on eBay and bought a Sunbeam Mixmaster, an updated version of my mother's stand mixer -- problem solved.