The idea for the Easy Bake Oven came from Norman Shapiro, Kenner's sales manager in New York.

[10] He was inspired by the ovens that New York street vendors used to bake pretzels, and suggested to Kenner executives that the company makes a toy version of the appliance.

[11] Spearheaded by research and development vice-president James Kuhn, with major contributions from Ronald Howes, the Kenner team iterated on the idea.

[12] The original Kenner Easy-Bake Oven was heated by two 100-watt incandescent light bulbs, one above the food tray and one below.

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.

[citation needed] In 2002, Hasbro released the Queasy Bake Cookerator, a variant on the Easy-Bake targeted at young boys.

[citation needed] 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.

The replacement was due to the availability of alternatives to the incandescent light bulbs that heated previous versions of the Easy-Bake Oven.

)[24][25] 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.

[31] The kit was approved by the CPSC and consisted of a plastic grate that fit over the existing oven door.

On July 19, 2007, Hasbro re-issued its voluntary recall of the Easy-Bake after learning that part of a five-year-old girl's finger had to be amputated because of a severe burn.

[21] Ovens sold prior to May 2006 were not part of the recall, leaving more than 25 million side-entry/light bulb models in circulation unaffected.