Easy-Bake Oven

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The Easy-Bake Oven, currently a product of Hasbro, is a working toy oven that uses an ordinary light bulb as a heat source. Eleven versions of the Easy-Bake Oven have been sold.^[1] By 1997, "more than 16 million Easy-Bake Ovens had been sold".^[2]

The oven comes with packets of cake mix and small round pans. (Additional mixes can be purchased separately.) After water is added to the mix in the pan, it is pushed into the oven through a slot.^[1] After cooking, the cake is pushed out through a slot in the other end.

1 Originated by Kenner
2 Hasbro versions
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Originated by Kenner

This iconic toy was introduced in 1963 by Kenner Products, a Cincinnati, Ohio, based toy company. Often cited as a favorite childhood toy by women and men alike, Easy-Bake has even served as the inspiration for the careers of celebrity chefs such as Bobby Flay. The early models were designed to look like miniature conventional ovens. Later models were designed to look like microwave ovens.

Although the toy's creation has been falsely claimed by many who apparently wish to attach their names to a bit of toy history(and incorrectly attributed in an episode of FoodTV's Unwrapped to a deceased Kenner salesman whose solitary contribution was to suggest that Kenner make a pretzel oven after seeing pretzel vendors on a trip to New York City), the Easy-Bake Oven was the invention of Ronald Howes, who conceived of the design, built the first model, and sold the rights to the company. Mr. Howes also had a hand in either inventing or refining many other classic Kenner toys such as Play-Doh, Spirograph, Give-a-Show Projector, and Close-and-Play Record Player.

[edit] Hasbro versions

There are three models of the Easy-Bake Oven currently available from Hasbro. The Easy-Bake Oven and Snack Center was introduced in 1993. It was powered by a 100 watt light bulb that was sold separately from the oven. Another sleek design was made later. Both Easy-Bake Ovens could make cakes, cookies, and various desserts in minutes.

A decade later, the Real Meal Oven was released. It won the 2003 Best Toy Parenting magazine Toy of the Year Award. Unlike previous versions, this oven could bake two pans at once. The neutral colors were appropriate for both genders. The pans were bigger, and it could bake both desserts and meals.

In 2006, a different version of the Easy-Bake was released. It featured a stove-top warmer, and like the first version by Hasbro, it had smaller pans and only could bake one pan at a time.

The oven was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2006.^[3]

In February 2007, Hasbro and the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 985,000 Easy-Bake toy ovens after finding that kids' hands and fingers can get caught in the oven's opening, thereby posing serious risk of burns.^[4]