Hasbro versions
After Kenner became a division of Hasbro, which then closed it down, Hasbro continued to produce the oven.[13] The Easy-Bake Oven and Snack Center was introduced in 1993.
A decade after the Easy-Bake Oven and Snack Center was introduced, the Real Meal Oven was released. This oven was different from the others in being able to cook larger portions, and two of them at once, using two pans at the same time. It won the 2003 Best Toy Parenting magazine Toy of the Year Award. The neutral colors were more accepted across gender lines, and were favored by parents, particularly in the midst of queries and complaints over versions not being offered for male children. The Real Meal pans were larger than the Easy Bake ones, and it could bake both desserts and main courses. This model featured a heating element and did not require a light bulb.
In 2002, Hasbro released the Queasy Bake Cookerator, a variant on the Easy-Bake targeted at young boys.[14]
In 2006, a different version of the Easy-Bake was released, with a stove-top warmer and a heating element. Like Hasbro's first version, it had smaller pans, and it could only bake one pan at a time. But the new front-loading Hasbro design, a substantial departure from the traditional push-through arrangement, was ill-conceived, as all (approximately 985,000) such units were recalled over safety concerns and reported injuries.[15]
The oven was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2006.[16]
In 2011, the last version to use a 100-watt incandescent light bulb was replaced by a new version with a dedicated heating element, named the Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven. The replacement was due to the availability of alternatives to the incandescent light bulbs that heated previous versions of the Easy-Bake Oven.[17] It was feared that newer lamp requirements would render all models that used light bulbs as their heating elements obsolete because lamps would no longer be available. (The company never provided initial or replacement bulbs.)[18][19]
In 2012, Hasbro announced the premiere of a version of the Easy-Bake Oven in black and silver after executives met with McKenna Pope, a girl from Garfield, New Jersey, who had started a Change.org petition asking the toy maker to offer the product in gender-neutral packaging.[20][21] The prototype Easy-Bake Oven was also made available in blue.[22] The redesigned product was slated to be unveiled in February 2013, at the New York Toy Fair.
