Easy Bake Oven: Ashley's Review

My daughter received this as a Christmas present and I was immediately excited to try it! I remember having one as a kid and enjoyed every minute of playtime I got with it.

Once the dust settled from the holiday chaos, my daughter and I headed to the kitchen and went to to work. It was very easy to ''set up'' (just unscrew the back and put in  a bulb) and the instructions were very easy to read. However, I am slightly disappointed that it didn't come with more mix packets. Just one for chocolate frosting, one for yellow cake and one for sugar cookies. The cake packet made one pan, so you don't even get a regular two-layer cake from it. However the instruction booklet does imply you can use regular cake mixes, so I was still excited to get started.

We set out to mix up the cake batter. The oven had been pre-heating and I followed the instructions as written. What's neat is it comes with a little measuring spoon 'X' shaped thing that you use to add water. It uses symbols instead of numbers, so it's fun and kid-friendly. The batter was poured into the prepared pan nd put into the oven. Fun and easy!

Unfortunately though, when i removed the cake from the oven i was disappointed to see a mushed up mess in the pan. It's likely this was due to the little candies my daughter insisted on placing in the batter and if so, let this be  lesson: no add ins! Still, it was cake either way so I wasn't too saddened....until i tried to get it out of the pan. The pans re a sort of shiny aluminum, I believe, and the instructions say to prepare the pans by spraying them with non-stick spray. I did this. It stuck. I pouted. My disappointment mounting, I slap on the chocolate frosting and hand it over with a fork for my daughter to enjoy. In the pan. She ran off, giddy and un-phased, to devour her first Easy Bake creation.

Pros: Cute design. Sort of retro in it's appearance, with a nice pale blue faux door. Very easy to use. You can use your own mixes, with no alterations, and they should turn out fine.Otherwise, they sell mixes online.

Cons: I wish it came with other pans. It only comes with two round cake pans and tow ''warming cups'' for heating up sauces. There is, however, a non-stick bakware set here as well as some other adorable accessories like this Baking Set and a Measure & Pour Set.

All in all I'm giving it a 4 out of 5 stars. It's fairly affordable, although there are all those cute accessories you won't be able to resist, and it seems to work well for something that cooks with the heat of a light bulb. It's safer than a real oven, making it ideal for young bakers in training.

Next, I'm going to review the microwave version that was also gifted this holiday season :)