Customer Reviews

Easy Bake Oven

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I could remember desperately wanting one of these Easy Bake Ovens as a kid. I never got one. I thought maybe I'd get one for my daughter when she was older, but she got one for her 5th birthday. We tried it out today. It was a hit! This thing really does bake.

Of course, we were lucky we had a light bulb on hand. I didn't expect to need one. I thought they came installed in the oven. It was easy to install.

The oven only came with a cake mix and a cookie mix and one pack of frosting. We chose to do the cookie mix. It took more water than the ¾ teaspoon of water the directions called for. The cookies came out great. Both my son and daughter loved them.

The biggest drawback to this oven is the expensive mixes. I bought one of those Easy Bake Oven cookbooks so my daughter would get to use her little oven more. I'd rather her cook in this oven and make tiny little cookies and cakes than the real oven, since I need to actually operate the real oven and I'm not keen on so much junk food. This way, the junk food portion is tiny and she has the fun of operating the oven.

This is a great toy. I really did miss out as a kid!

Late last year the Easy Bake Ovens were pulled from store shelves due to a recall and for many months the Easy Bake Oven was unavailable. The created an extremely strong desire in my daughter, and she longed for an easy bake oven. Finally, when they became available once more we bought one.

I also had one when I was a child, and although I have fond memories, I think most Easy Bake Ovens eventually stop being used because the mixes cost so much.

I was surprised that this oven didn't have any real improvements. It still uses a standard 100 watt light bulb, which is increasingly difficult to find due to cfl's taking over the lighting industry (which is a good thing). Once I located a 100 watt bulb, which by the way was the only one in the house, I unscrewed the back and installed the bulb. Next we preheated the oven for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the second drawback I encountered was that the timer is still fake. Wouldn't it be nice if the child could really time the preheating and the cooking times? Instead, we had to rely on our real oven to time the Easy Bake Oven.

Next, we put the mix into the pan after greasing it and flouring it. That brings me to a third point. With kitchen technology so evolved, why doesn't the modern Easy Bake Oven come with silicone baking pans? They're not expensive, and it would eliminate the need to grease and flour the pans.

Finally, my fourth complaint is that the cooking times are 8-10 minutes, for example, and had the front of the oven had a clear view, I could see into the oven to gauge whether or not the cake was done yet.

Here are the changes I would like to see in the Easy Bake Oven:

1. Eliminate standard bulbs. They're hard to find, especially as a single unit.

2. Add a real timer to the front.

3. Use silicone baking pans

4. Make the front of the oven clear so the baker can see the food cook.

Neither of the included mixes turned out that well, despite careful measuring and following instructions. But, there are a lot of cookbooks devoted to the Easy Bake Oven. I would highly recommend picking one of these up along with the oven.

After reading the complaints I had to write a review to provide some (apparently) much needed insight to all those people who complain about light bulbs and price of the mixes. I agree, it would be nice if a light bulb was included. But, "hello", toys that require batteries generally don't include the batteries. Rather than getting frustrated, my recommendation is to Adapt! I never had one of these as a child though I desperately wanted one. When my nephew was 7 or 8, he asked for one. I bought one for him and he and his younger brother cooked many, many things with it for the next 4 years. They live in a remote California small town and likely had to use a 100 watt frosted or other bulb, because they told me they had to cook the food a bit longer. Did they complain??? No! They Adapted. You wimps. Is this the best that the TV/Video/MTV generation can do? Complain because everything isn't perfect??? It would seem so. Here is how I solved the "cost" problem. Naturally the mixes are exorbitantly expensive and my nephews could not afford them. So (since I live 5 hours away), I found a baking container (i.e. a tuna fish can!) that approximated the easy bake oven pan, and started experimenting. It took my husband and I about 3 tries to get the proportions right. But guess what? We would buy cake mixes on sale (79 cents or $1.29...not willing to pay the over $2 price because these kids were making the cakes etc. several times a day - they were great snacks). We combined the dry cake mix with dried egg whites in the proportions called for on the box (all the mixes now provide for using just egg whites instead of whole eggs...right on the box). We then split the mixture into small baggies to comprise an "individual easy bake cake mix" (because the kids were too small to measure 5-1/3 tablespoons at that age very successfully), then included instructions for the 1 teasp of oil and (my recollection is) around a tablespoon of water. I still have those recipes around here somewhere; the boys are now 15 and 16 and no longer use their easy bake. But I am getting ready to order one - TODAY - for my 6 year old niece. I am sure she will enjoy it immensely and it will be used constantly this summer! I'll make sure she is supplied with the "low cost" mixes that I'll whip up for her (or her mom will). We had two different recipes for splitting the cake mixes, depending on which ingredients had to be added if you were making the normal size cake. That covered nearly the entire range of cake flavors/manufacturers available at the market. So my advice is...don't expect this toy to do everything for you. Use a little ingenuity and it will be an even better experience! And don't you DARE act disappointed about a missing light bulb because then that disappointment communicates itself immediately to the child. Turn that negative into a positive...experiment with the light bulbs you have...using the cake mixes you put together. The kids will have a lot more fun than the sterile, out of the box experience that you're insisting is the only way to use the Easy Bake. Guaranteed. NOVEMBER 2010 UPDATE: In response to many kind requests for the recipes, I will be posting them here as soon as I test them in my own Easy Bake oven, which will be delivered this week. I also ordered 100 watt clear light bulbs from [...], that generate 1750 lumens of light. 100 watt bulbs with the krypton technology (as sold on Amazon) only generate 950 lumens and last 20,000 hours, compared to the 750 hours for the GE #90410 purchased at Lamps Plus. Free shipping, but you have to spend $10. $3.29/2 pack of bulbs, and I ordered some other bulbs to get the order to $10. Stay tuned...and thank you for all the kind comments on my original post.

The Easy Bake brought a smile to my little girl's face. She's only 3, but she loves to be in the kitchen with me. She was very excited to have an oven of her very own. I had to giggle at how small the cakes are - they seemed so much bigger and delicious when I was a kid. My daughter seemed enchanted with baking a cake all of her own.

The Easy Bake came with 3 mixes which made 1 yellow "cake" with frosting and some sugar cookies. We baked the "cake" right away - it looked more like a cookie when it came out. It didn't stop my daughter from beaming with pride as we frosted it for her and her daddy to share.

We live in a small town and had a difficult time tracking down the proper light bulb to work with the unit. We had to wait until we made a trip to the nearest "big town" to get the right bulb.

We purchased the children's cookbook that is a recommended purchase from Amazon. That was the best purchase! The mixes are expensive and not much fun. My daughter enjoyed the "real" recipes. The recipes in the book are great - we had everything on hand and they came with their own measuring spoons for the tiny amounts needed. The book makes the Easy Bake much more versatile. I wouldn't purchase the oven with out it!

First off I'm going to admit that I'm sorry I spent my money on this thing. It's so much easier to make real brownies and cakes in the kitchen with the kids. The food out of this Easy Bake oven is gummy, tastes bad and is TINY.

Like everyone else said, you have to buy the clear 100 watt bulb yourself. I found one at Home Depot. Lowes and Walmart didn't have any on the shelf. The frosted bulbs won't work.

The timer and clock are fake. (No surprise.) There is no on and off button either. You can't even watch your item bake by looking through the front window.

There are 2 mixes included in the box. Yellow cake mix (with icing) and a sugar cookie mix.

Alright I'm just going to say it. This is nothing for JUNK. The mixes are over WAY over priced. We tried several different recipes we found on-line and nothing turned out good or tasted good. You get these two tiny cheap pans. Ours came bent almost in half. There is no educational or entertainment value to this. My kids (6&7) are disappointed that the door doesn't open, the clock won't work and the timer is fake. WHAT IS THE POINT OF MAKING A FAKE TOY?

Buying this toy was the equivilent of buying a bike with the wheels welded tight. Nice to look at but not much fun to play with huh?

Please! Just spend a little time in the kitchen with your kids and let them enjoy making real food. This oven was nothing but a waste of money.

I was very excited when I first purchased the Easy Bake Oven for my daughter. When I was younger it was very popular, so I figured it would be fun for her, but I was wrong. It is not easy, and it is a huge ripoff. All of the dials and buttons are fake, and there is nothing to the actual oven. The entire oven is powered by a 100w lightbulb, WHICH ISN'T EVEN INCLUDED. You have to disassemble the oven to install YOUR OWN lightbulb. So within the first 5 minutes of opening the "Easy" Bake Oven, I was already dissapointed. I also purchased a side bag of chocolate chip cookies. FOR $6.00 IT BAKES 2 COOKIES! ONLY 2 COOKIES. I have no clue how this toy became so popular. It is way overpriced (considering it is only a piece of plastic and a plug with absolutely no functionality) and it is such a process for 2 small Cookies. Go to the foodstore, buy a bag of cookies for $3.00 and spend some time with your kid and make some cookies the right way. None of this rediculous nonsense. I am returning it tomorrow. TWO THUMBS DOWN.

There was another reviewer who touched on a few of these points as well, but I felt I needed to really EMPHASIZE what a unfriendly "toy" this was.

1) Light Bulb needed--100 Watt--no extended life or soft-white version. I didn't think this was a big deal until I went shopping for such light bulb. A non-soft white light bulb or non-double life/extended life light bulb is HARD to find.

2) Cook 8 minutes....but you can't SEE into the oven to know if it is indeed done. So out pops the "muffin top" and it wasn't done after 8 minutes. We tried to push it back in the way it came out, but the "door" mechanism (inside the toy--closes off the oven) on the oven is a one-way out only. So we go back to the entry side and go to slide it back in....ummm, except that the ENTRY is smaller than the EXIT and oh, the very slight raise of the muffin "top" catches on the "door" and now we have the "top" all over the door in there and an unsightly muffin baking a little longer. You can't just easily clean off the top that is stuck on the "door" as it is well inside the machine....and on round two of muffin top baking...this is now burning. Pleasant. Round two muffin top, we wait a few minutes longer on the initial baking...slide it out and oh, it was done...but this time the top of the "muffin top" catches on the exit door. Absolutely ridiculous design.

3) The timer is fake.

4) This is NOT a "toy" that can be used without an adult, unless the kid is probably over 7 years old. If I, as the parent, am going to cook with my child...I'd just as soon supervise my child's use of the REAL oven. AND, you get three 3" x 1/2" muffin tops in 30 minutes with the toy oven....we could have made a dozen whole muffins in that time with the real oven.

5) This "toy" was a gift...but in looking at the price of the oven as well as the mixes, it is really a poor value. The oven is overpriced to begin with...but then you have to buy the light bulb (see #1) and you've got another $5 in that. The Betty Crocker Muffin Top mix makes a total of 4 muffin tops (each in individual pkgs in the big pkg.) I think I just saw on Amazon that it was $8.95....what a scam.

I ABSOULUTELY THINK THIS IS A BAD TOY.

Most people probably know what the Easy Bake oven is and how it's operated, since it's been around for awhile. I just wanted to add a few things. On the package, it says this product is for 8 and up. If your children are younger than 8, be prepared to do most of the work! Also, it DOES NOT come with a light bulb. You need a 100 watt light bulb, but not soft white, long life or high efficiency.

My 5 year old daughter just had an absolute fit for an Easy Bake Oven, so we gave in. 95% of the work has to be done by an adult, which to me takes all the fun out of it for her. The mixes for this oven make a very small serving, size of a cookie. We bought extra mixes to have on hand and they are very pricey might I add. But once I opened the first mix and saw the portion of it, I knew right away this toy would be in the closet way more than it would get played with. You could literally let your little one help you make "dozens" of cupcakes and let them decorate them and still come out ahead as far as $$ goes. I was just very disappointed in this!

I bought this toy for my daughter. It does not come ready to use and you have to purchase the light bulb separately. If you did not read the box carefully you can easily miss that and you won't be able to use the toy until you do. That would be a really disapointment on Christmas.