Easy Bake Oven
by Hasbro
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Our Price: $74.45 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $59.99 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Easy Bake Oven
Customer Review: Quit Whining! You Get Out What You Put Into This Toy
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Customer Review: Easy-Bake: Disappointing children, since 1963
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a ridiculously bad product, and merely disappointment/disillusionment, waiting to happen. We did not purchase this for our daughter, and never would have, but my ex-husband (her bio-dad) got it for her. I cringed, as soon as I saw it, especially when she began dreaming aloud of all the "treats" she'd make for her younger siblings.
As mentioned by other reviewers, the bulb required is both hard-to-find, and not included (thankfully, my ex did include bulbs, with the gift). This is not as simple an issue as a toy coming without batteries - which are a household staple, for most - finding the bulbs is difficult, any time of year, but especially around the holidays.
First off, my daughter is 7 1/2, and could not even come close to operating this toy, alone. She's extremely bright, and generally plays with toys meant for much older children, yet I still had to handle most of the "baking" for her, as the tiny amounts of mix (imagine trying to properly mix a SPOONFUL of cookie dough) and improbably-awkward oven design make this toy extremely hard to use.
This set came with three mixes, which make two recipes: cookies, and a cake (they count the cake frosting mix as seperate). None of the food was anything I'd call "edible," and my daughter declined trying any of it, after actually gagging upon tasting the frosting. I'm 31, and a well-experienced baker. Even so, *I* could not make either recipe turn out. The cake was a hard, bubbled, disc, and the cookies melded into one another, coming out looking much like the cake (weirdly bubbled), but having the distinction of being both under AND over-done, at once. By the time we got to the second "batch" (you can only make three at a time) of cookies, my daughter had totally lost interest.
So, thanks to Easy-Bake, I had to explain to my kid the truth of toy advertising, why none of the creations shown on the box art were EVER made by an Easy-Bake oven, and the profit that can be made in tricking little kids into begging for toys that will never, ever work nearly as well as they do, in advertising.
She was not amused, to say the least. And Christmas is hardly the time a parent wants to have the "People lie to get your money, darling" talk with their kids.
It cannot be said enough: Buy your kid a bunch of REAL mixes/ingredients, a cookbook, a little apron, and give them a few nights of your time, to learn how to bake - you'll make wonderful memories, start a tradition they can pass to their own kids, save a TON of money, and have a much happier kid. Not every parent bakes as a hobby, but ANY parent can figure out a simple boxed mix, I promise. ;)
Customer Review: NOT SO EASY bake oven
Summary: 1 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Fun memories but has a long way to go
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Good concept, needs a lot of improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
My daughter got an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas this year, and we have enjoyed using it.
The issues:
* You can't see inside to watch the cake baking. It would have been nice to have a small view window so that the children could watch the baking process. It would make for a more educational toy.
* There is an off-on switch and a timer, neither of which are functional! It would have been nice to have a simple power switch instead of having to use the cord for that. Also, it would have been a very simple thing to install a real timer on the oven. Instead we have to use a stand-alone timer.
* The mixes that are available to buy are overly sweet, and many contain artificial flavors and sulfiting agents. And honestly,they don't taste that great. All of them are extremely expensive, costing $7-$8 each if you buy them signally. Luckily there are many simple homemade recipes on the internet. We can make a double layer cake for about 50 cents instead of $8. Our homemade double layer chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting was amazingly good, and about 100X better than the mix.
* The oven is very difficult to clean if there is an accidental spill inside.
* The needed light bulb does not come in the package, which can be disappointing f one is not prepared for it. You have to go out and buy the bulb specially, as most folks do not have 100 watt incandescent (not soft white, long life, or energy efficient bulbs) lying around.
* It would be nice if the oven was a little larger, allowing for two trays to bake at the same time. It would be great to be able to cook a full batch of mini cookies or two layers of a cake at the same time, instead of having to wait through two different 15 minute cooking and 10 minute cooling sessions.
Despite the many flaws we really enjoy baking with the Easy Bake Oven. My five year old daughter and I like creating treats together, and she feels proud about using "her" tools and oven to do it.