Easy-Bake Oven

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Second version of the Easy-Bake Oven from 1969
The first three models of the Easy-Bake Oven

The Easy-Bake Oven is a functioning toy oven that was first brought to the US market in 1963 by the toy manufacturer Kenner . The toy oven is still available today and is made by the toy manufacturer Hasbro .

By 1997, more than 16 million Easy Bake Ovens had been sold. There have been eleven different models throughout the history of this toy oven. The oven is delivered with baking mixes and small baking tins. The design has been revised several times over the years and at times resembled a microwave oven .

history

The Easy-Bake Oven was first launched in 1963 by Kenner, an Ohio-based toy manufacturer. Two 100 watt light bulbs were used as the heating source. The model was available in both a light yellow and a turquoise version and corresponded to a conventional oven. Various safety precautions should prevent children from getting burned on the stove. The filled baking tins were only pushed into the oven through a narrow slot. When the baked goods were ready, they were automatically pushed out on the other side through a narrow slot.

Kenner was taken over in 1967 by General Mills , who developed baking mixes and baking molds for this toy oven under the brand name Betty Crocker , which is very well known in the USA . General Mills advertised, among other things, that Betty Crocker baking mixes could be used "both in mother's oven and in Kenner's easy-bake oven". The model from 1972 measures 14 × 6 × 11 inches (around 36 × 15 × 28 cm). In 1973 the toy oven was officially renamed Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven and came on the market in the red shade typical of these brands.

General Mills merged Kenner and Parker Brothers in 1985 to form Kenner Parker Toys Inc. and sold this company to Tonka in 1987 . In 1991, Hasbro acquired these brands and continued production of the Easy-Bake Ovens. Hasbro developed, among other things, a larger variant and one that could also be used for cooking. When choosing colors for the models, increasing emphasis is placed on ensuring that the colors are gender-neutral. Previously, there had been criticism that Hasbro primarily marketed the stove to girls simply because of the choice of color, thus helping to consolidate gender-specific roles.

influence

The Easy-Bake Oven is still a very popular toy in the USA, with many children gaining their first experiences in processing food with it. David Sax attributes the current great popularity of cupcakes in the USA, among other things, to the fact that many people were the first to produce these pastries in their toy ovens.

Hasbro published a gourmet cookbook to mark the oven's 40th anniversary. The Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet Cookbook lists recipes by well-known chefs that have been developed exclusively for this oven. Most of the recipes are aimed at adults because of their ingredients and the complexity of their production.

literature

  • Susan Marks: Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food. University of Minnesota Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8166-5018-7 .

Web links

Commons : Easy-Bake Ovens  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Connoisseur History. Kenner Collector, accessed April 19, 2015 .
  2. ^ "The Easy-Bake Oven, Gourmet Style" National Public Radio Morning Edition , December 8, 2003. Accessed April 19, 2015.
  3. ↑ Easy Bake Oven inducted 2006. Accessed April 19, 2015 .
  4. ↑ The People History: Seventies Popular boys and girls toys from 1972 including Easy Bake Oven and Talky Crissy Doll . Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  5. ^ Susan Marks: Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food. University of Minnesota Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8166-5018-7 , p. 173.
  6. ↑ USA Today, "Easy-Bake loses its bulb, gets a makeover," Associated Press, Sep. 14, 2011.
  7. ↑ Hasbro to unveil black and silver Easy-Bake Oven after teen's petition
  8. ↑ David Sax: The Tastemakers - Why we're Crazy for Cupcakes But Fed Up With Fondue . PublicAffairs 2014, ISBN 978-1-61039-316-4 , p. 3.
  9. ↑ Christopher Noxon: Rejuvenile : Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes and he Reinvention of the American Grown-Up. Crown Publishers, New York 2006, ISBN 0-307-35177-7 . Chapter 2, The rejuvenile at play. Position 1514. In the original Noxon writes: Then there's the Easy-Bake Oven .... Theatr. Years later, wistful Bommels looking for a taste of their own childhoods had driven up the price of Vintage Avocado and harvest-gold Easy-Bakes on eBay to fifty Dollars. Partly to commemorate the continued anniversary of the toy, Hasbro authorized the Easy Bake Oven Gourmet Cookbook. in which motable chefs contributed recipes to be prepared exclusively with the children's toy. Celebrity Chef Bobby Play whipped up a Queso Fundido with roasted Poblano Vinaigrette, while Tom Douglas offered a recipe for Palace Olive Popper - dishes that would likely to go over better at a dinner party than a playdate.