"Mom will you get me an Easy Bake Oven?", was a request from my daughter several years ago.
I wasn't sure I wanted to get her one because I had already been letting her help me in the kitchen making cakes, cookies and such.
"But it's not the same", she insisted, "I can put the food in and take it out all by myself".

Ok, I decided to go ahead and get it for her even though I had reservations. It looked like she wanted to try out some independence in baking lol.

I purchased our Easy Bake Oven at Wal-mart for $19.99. It looks like they still sell for about the same price.

The dimensions of Easy Bake Oven are, 7.88 X 15.88 X 8.56 and it is plastic. It is pink and white with touches of purple.
It comes with 2 round 3-inch metal baking pans, 2 tiny plastic cooking utensils, 2 plastic warming cups (to melt toppings & dips) & warming cover, a long handled pan pusher (to push the baking tins in and out of the oven), a recipe booklet, mixes to make a chocolate cake...a yellow cake...white frosting and chocolate frosting.
The light bulb is not included, and you will need a phillips screwdriver to open the back to screw in the lightbulb.
A 100 watt light bulb is recommended.

The oven really does work. Have you ever touched a light bulb that had just been turned off...yeow! A light bulb gets very hot. Put that light bulb in a small enclosed area like the design in the Easy Bake Oven and it gets hot enough to cook.
Even though this is a "toy", remember this fact and always supervise play with the Easy Bake Oven. A inquisitive child could slide a small hand in and get burned.
The recommended age for this toy is 8 to 12 years.

The Easy Bake Oven was first introduced by Kenner in 1963 and by 1998 16 million ovens had been sold and over 100 million baking mix sets. It is and continues to be a popular toy.
The colors have changed over the years to keep up with the times. The first Easy Bake Oven was aqua. Other colors have been yellow, avacado green, orange, lime green and white.
The look of the oven has changed too. It wasn't until 1978 that it took on its microwave appearance.

Many baking mixes are available to replenish the cakes, cookies and snacks as they are made and eaten. In fact, this is were Kenner really makes the dough (couldn't resist that pun).
You may have thought that purchasing the oven at $20 would be your only investment. Think again! The baking mix kits make diminutive items ( 3-inch cakes and cookies etc).
Since the oven comes with 2-3in. cake mixes and enough frosting for those 2 cakes the finished products are only enough to feed an elf. You will be heading for the store to purchase more mixes at a cost of $5 and up for each baking mix.
Consider this: You get 2 cake mixes and 2 frosting mixes in an Easy Bake Oven Cake mix. At $5 or $6 dollars a mix that makes those little 3-inch cakes cost $2.50 to $3.00 each.
This can become quite expensive, especially if you have a miniature professional cook on your hands.

This is were American ingenuity comes in. Lets make our own mixes! I have surfed the web and have included links to a number of sites devoted to giving out "from scratch" recipes designed for the Easy Bake Oven. They are included at the end of this review.
Of course Kenner has probably noticed this trend and I see they have come out with a number of new mix kits for things like McDonalds pie makers, Pizza Bake sets, Pop Tarts sets, and other specialty sets that include specialty utensils & serving items that you would have to purchase the mixes to get. So, you may still be rolling out a little $dough.

I have seen many children who really like "baking" in their little Easy Bake Ovens and your child may be one of them. As I thought, though, my daughter didn't take long to tire of those tiny little cakes & cookies. After all she had already been used to helping me make real, people sized cakes and cookies and other treats.
Within the year our Easy Bake Oven found its' way into our annual garage sale. Hopefully it found its' way into the home of a little girl who will appreciate it.

The quality of the purchased baking mixes left a lot to be desired too. They don't taste as good as made from scratch or regular purchased mixes. After all, remember, this is a toy and the baked goods from the Easy Bake Oven are going to reflect this fact.

This is a little list of just some of the kinds of Easy Bake Oven mixes and kits on the market:
4Pk Marble Cake Mix $5.99
4Pk Heart Cookie Mix $5.99
Egg Waffels Bake Set $9.99
...includes plastic serving tray, 3.25 inch circular waffle,
...pan & lid, 3 yellow cake packets, marshmallow creme &
...blueberry flavored mix.
Pop Tarts Set $9.99
...3 sugar cookie packets, flavoring, frosting, a cutter and
...a spreader spoon. With this set you must provide flour,
...cooking spray, mixing bowl and baking pan.
Donut Set $9.99
...Mixes for 2 chocolate & 1 plain donut packets, 2
...frosting packets & other decorations, shaker bottle,
...spatula/mea. spoon combination, 1 metal donut pan.
McDonalds Pie Maker $9.99
...pie dough & filling mixes, clamshell pie maker, serving
...tray, tiny McDonalds paper pie sleeves & stickers. You
...need to provide flour and rolling pin.
Pizza Bake Set $9.99
...3 packets sugar cookie mix, 2 pizza sauce frosting mix
...packets, pizza cutter, cardboard pizza delivery box.
...You need to supply the pan and mini utensils.

There is also an Official Easy Bake Oven Cookbook, ISBN 0525462562. It is a paperback spiral bound book with 48 pages. There are, however, no from scratch recipes in this book. It contains ideas for using the Easy Bake Oven mixes. This book offers tips on using these mixes and ideas to decorate them plus party and menu ideas. It retails for $7.99.

I will include a couple of from scratch recipes in this review and then give links for many more.

Chocolate Cake Mix
Serving Size : 11
Children's Cakes Mixes-Easy Bake Oven Collection

1.... cup.......... Sugar
3.... Tablespoons.. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 cups......... Flour
1.... Teaspoon..... Baking Soda
1/2.. Teaspoon..... Salt
1/3.. Cup.......... Vegetable Shortening

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Stir with a wire whisk until blended. With a pastry blender, cut in shortening until evenly distributed and mixture resembles corn meal.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of the mixture into each of 11 small containers with tight fitting lids or zip-lock bags. Seal containers. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool dry place. Use within 12 weeks.
Makes 11 packages of Children's Chocolate Cake Mix for Easybake style oven.

To Use:
1 package cake mix
4 tsp. water.

Mix together and stir with a fork or spoon until blended and smooth. Pour mixture into greased and floured 4 inch round miniature baking pan. Follow directions for child's oven, or bake in mom's preheated 375* oven for 12 to
13 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes.
Invert onto a small plate and remove pan. When cool, frost with Children's Chocolate Frosting. Serves 2children

Children's Chocolate Frosting
Serving Size : 9
Easy Bake Oven Collection-Frosting

2...Cups.........Powdered Sugar..sifted
3...Tablespoons..Non-fat Dry Milk powder
1/2.Cup..........Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
6...Tablespoons..Vegetable Shortening

In a medium bowl, combine icing sugar, milk powder and cocoa powder. (Sift cocoa if lumpy.) With a pastry blender, cut in he shortening.
Spoon about 1/3 cup of mixture into each of 9 small containers or zip-lock bags and seal tightly. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool dry place. Use
within 12 weeks. Makes 9 packages of Children's Chocolate Frosting.

To Use:

1 pkg. Children's Chocolate Frosting mix
3/4 tsp. water

In a small bowl, combine frosting mix and water. Stir with a spoon until smooth. Makes about 1/4 cup.

Here are the links I promised:
link for
Sparkling frosting, thumbprint cookie mix,
Barbie’s Happy Birthday Cake
Barbie’s Pretty Pink Cake
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/realfood/message/116

link for lemonade cake mix
http://cake.allrecipes.com/AZ/syBkvnCkMix.asp

link to more recipes including oven biscuits
http://www.hermanhomestead.com/easy_bake_oven_recipes.htm




























Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $19.95
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older