Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I rarely write reviews but I just had to for this toy. I read many reviews before buying this oven, and I was bothered by all of the people who got something free in exchange for their review. So I thought I would give the oven a good try and give a genuine review - from a regular mom who paid full price for the oven and used it several times before posting an opinion. My daughter just had a birthday and turned 9. She had been asking for an easy bake oven for months, and I researched those as well. I picked the Lalaloopsy oven over the easy bake because it was pink and had hearts on it, and it was cheaper, priced at $38 from walmart. It seemed to me from any negative oven reviews in general, that most parents were dissatisfied with these types of ovens because they had one when they were little, and these are different now because you cannot watch the cakes baking and there are so many new safety features. Well, I never had an easy bake oven when I was little, so I don't have that nostalgic issue and don't really know the difference. I gave her the oven for her birthday as her "big" present, hoping it would not be a flop. She 's not even into Lalaloopsy but the oven is so girly and adorable, she loved it anyway. Plus there's no doll or anything included, so it's basically just a pink frilly oven. We made the included 2 kits, strawberry cake with frosting and sugar cookies. She was thrilled to be able to do most of it by herself. She has a little battery operated toy blender that she used to mix up the batter and it was just perfect and so much fun. We took our time reading the directions and figuring out how to push the cake in, through, and get it out. To be clear, the cake wasn't tasty at all, no not at all. But we told her it was absolutely scrumptious and we all had a teeny slice, because, parents who wrote negative reviews about how awful the cakes tasted, THAT'S WHAT YOU DO as a parent, and it is a TOY. The cookies were bad too but she ate them and was delighted. She knew it wasn't "like mom's cakes or cookies" but that's okay, I told her it was great and she did a super job. She was very proud and the point is learning independence and experiencing what it's like to bake a cake without a ton of help. I helped a little but she really wanted to do it all on her own. I really can't understand it when I read reviews where parents exclaim that they were so disgusted that they "threw the cake away" or the little girl cried because it didn't turn out right, or the mom threw the oven back in the box in the corner on Christmas day and swore she would take it back. What is wrong with people? This is a baking toy. Do not expect gourmet cakes and teach your child to be happy with what they have and make the best of things. Some reviewers suggested to save your money and just let your child bake in the real oven with you. Great idea except she cannot do it herself. So after researching the prices of refill kits, (and watching a great youtube video of someone who tried this) I decided to use a real cake mix from the grocery store and cut it down. We got Party Rainbowchip cake mix that requires 3 eggs, because I figured I could cut it in thirds and we would just make a few cakes at once. Next came a math fractions lesson and she wrote her recipe on a card (again, delighted to have her own recipe card) as I explained how we would divide the cake mix into thirds. If anyone is interested, It worked out to 1 cup and 1 heaping tbsp of cake mix, 1/3 cup of water, 1 egg, and 2 tbsp + 2 tsp of oil. Then we baked ALL day long. A third of a cake mix, we discovered, makes 7 tiny cakes (really 6 because one got stuck in the oven...more about that in a minute). She and my 5 year old son each made their own tiny 2 layer cake and I made icing for them to put on the cakes. tasted much better and cheaper to use a cake mix from the grocery store but a third of the batter is still a lot. I didn't mind. So fun baking and decorating. Really, I do recommend this oven and would have given it 5 stars except here comes the keeping it real part. Getting the cake out of the oven is kind of like playing Operation. We ended up using a fork to drag the pan out. However that did not happen with the first cake that came with the oven. Maybe because we used a grocery store mix, it was a little puffier and too tall to slide out easily on the pink spatula. The final cake, the 7th from the grocery store rainbow chip mix, got stuck in the oven. She finally went outside to play and I was inside jamming the pink spatula in both ends, saying mean words to the frilly pink oven. It is now after dinner and the cake is still stuck in there. It's ok, it was totally worth it. I got tons of great pictures of her baking her own very first cake and decorating it. Today, the 7-cake day, she was home from school with chicken pox but feeling well enough to bake cakes all day so it was the best activity ever. If the Lalaloopsy people wanted my input, I would say please make the cooling chamber hole a half inch taller so a parent can get in there good with a pair of tongs to yank the pan out quickly if need be. That's all, hope that helps someone. I'm going to go try to get the cake out again....