Learn how to make your own Easy Bake Oven mixes from boxed cake mix... Yields 33 refills for under $4, making them just $0.12 each!
Easy Bake Oven -- To Buy Or Not To Buy?
My oldest daughter turned 10 a few months ago -- that precarious age where she's on the brink of leaving childish things behind but isn't quite ready to give it all up.
Her Christmas wish list was an interesting take on this, filled with clothing, a Beats Pill, a Vera Bradley purse, earrings, etc... but one item stood out:
An Easy Bake Oven.
I have to say I was torn... Would she actually use it? Or was it just a total waste of money? I added an Easy Bake Ultimate Oven to my Amazon cart but continued to debate purchasing for days.
You see, we had one of these toys several years ago -- but it was promptly donated when my five kids quickly grew frustrated with how long it took to bake ONE teeny cake that was little more than a bite for each. But being the lone toy in a sea of preteen dreams, I finally decided: "What could it hurt?"
And what do you know?! She has used it near daily since opening it Christmas morning.
She loves to make special cakes for everyone in the family. And I love to watch quietly from afar, as she carefully stacks layers of various cake flavors, frosting each to perfection, and finally topping them off with her favorite rainbow sprinkles. I'm so glad that I caved, because I would have missed out on so much joy.
The down side to it? Those gosh darn Easy Bake Oven mixes are ridiculously expensive! I mean, we're talking $6.99 for a refill pack that makes just 2 cakes.
Whoa, I would have dropped hundreds on these things by now!!! But I got smart and figured out a way to make our own homemade Easy Bake Oven mixes...
Make Your Own Easy Bake Oven Mixes
It took some research and a lot of trial and error, but my daughter and I hit upon just the right formula for using store-bought cake mixes to make our own Easy Bake Oven refills.
We tested several brands in the process. While the method I'm going to share worked reasonably well for all the brands we tried, we both agreed that the Duncan Hines Signature cake mixes consistently produced the best results.
Given that a box of this cake mix retails for around $1.28 at Walmart and we were able to get about 11 Easy Bake Oven mixes per box, you can easily see how the savings add up. That breaks down to just $0.12 per mix versus $3.50 for a single Easy Bake Oven refill!!!
I picked up three boxes of Duncan Hines Signature cake mix, one each of French Vanilla, Dark Chocolate Fudge, and Strawberry Supreme, which is enough to make 33 Easy Bake Oven mixes in under 15 minutes.
In addition, I recommend picking up a can of baking spray to prepare the pan, a couple of tubs of white frosting, and some rainbow sprinkles.
I also found this adorable mini turner and matching spatula that are the perfect size for smaller hands, so I grabbed them, as well. Unfortunately, they're no longer available online, but I just stumbled upon this adorable 5-piece set of silicone mini utensils that I love even more!
Setting Expectations For Easy Bake Oven Recipes
Before I share how to make your own refill mixes, I want to be VERY CLEAR about what you should expect from them. Gourmet cakes? NO. A budget-friendly mix that will allow your child to bake a perfectly edible and tasty (enough) cake all on his or her own? YES!!!
Eggs and oil are not necessary to attain this goal. A little smear of frosting can up the tastiness factor, but I've eaten many, MANY plain cakes with ZERO complaints. :)
Also, it's important to keep in mind that this is a child's toy, not a calibrated oven. The baking time may need to be adjusted slightly to achieve desired results.
With this goal in mind, my girls have been able to enjoy using their Easy Bake Oven whenever they want without emptying my wallet. They've been totally thrilled with these Easy Bake Oven mixes and have enjoyed hours upon hours of baking fun with them!
And THIS is my intent in sharing these Easy Bake Oven recipes with you.
How To Make Easy Bake Oven Mixes
Making your own Easy Bake Oven mixes is super simple when you follow these instructions. I recommend these Ziploc Snack Bags, because they're the perfect size to hold each mix.
Label each with these simple Easy Bake Oven mix labels that are designed to print on standard Avery 5160 address labels. Of course, in a pinch, you could just print them on regular paper and tape them on.
NEW: By popular request, I've added another set of printable labels for use with the Duncan Hines Signature Lemon Supreme, Orange Supreme, and Red Velvet cake mixes! These also work with the Avery 5160 address labels and can be downloaded here.
- Original French Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge, and Strawberry Supreme labels
- New Lemon Supreme, Orange Supreme, and Red Velvet labels
How To Make Easy Bake Oven Mixes
Ingredients
For making the Easy Bake Oven refill mixes:
For preparing the mixes:
- 1 refill mix pouch
- 2 tablespoon water
- Pam Baking Spray or similar
Instructions
To make the Easy Bake Oven mixes:
- Sift each cake mix into a large bowl. There will be chunks of dried strawberries in the Strawberry Supreme cake mix -- these can just be discarded.
- Measure each mix into precise ¼ cup portions by spooning the mix into a ¼ cup measuring cup, and then leveling it off with a knife. Place each portion in a Ziploc snack bag and label (find printable labels here and here). You should end up with about 11 refills per box of cake mix.
To bake each refill mix:
- Preheat your Easy Bake Oven for 20 minutes.
- Lightly spray the Easy Bake pan with Pam Baking Spray. Here's a tip for making this less messy.
- When the Easy Bake Oven is done preheating, mix the bagged refill with 2 tablespoons of water and spread it evenly in the prepared Easy Bake pan.
- Bake in the Easy Bake Ultimate Oven for approximately 17 minutes.
- Cool for 5 minutes, then frost and decorate with sprinkles.
Notes
Recommended Products
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A Few Tips For Best Results
1| Measure the mixes precisely using the method described in the "recipe". If you pack the mix into the measuring cup too densely, your cake will rise too high and stick to the top of the inside of your Easy Bake Oven.
2| Cooking spray is a MUST to get the cake to release from the pan easily. As I mentioned, I like this baking spray for effectiveness, as well as flavor. Be sure to check out this quick tip for applying cooking spray with less mess!
3| DO NOT pre-mix the cake batter while waiting for the Easy Bake Oven to preheat. This can also cause it to rise too high and stick to the inside of the oven. Mix it up after preparing your pan and place it in the oven right away.
4| For a fun change of pace, shake decorating sprinkles on top of the prepared batter once it's spread in the cake pan. This creates a "funfetti" style cake without muddling the bright colors!
So there you have it -- 33 Easy Bake Oven refill mixes for under $4!
These would be an awesome gift idea for any little girl that loves to bake with her Easy Bake Oven. Just package up the mixes with a can of the baking spray, frosting, and sprinkles. Toss in some super cute mini utensils, and you've got hours and hours of baking fun for well under $20 (not including the oven, of course).
Is your child ready to graduate to baking with a real oven? These brownie mix cookies using boxed brownie mix are perfect for kids to start out with! With just 3 ingredients, it's an ideal recipe for beginner bakers (as well as busy moms)...
More Recipes Made With Boxed Cake Mixes
If you like these Easy Bake Oven refills, you might also enjoy these other EASY boxed cake mix recipes:
- Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake Recipe (made w/ yellow cake mix!)
- Layered Boston Cream Pie Recipe (made w/ angel food cake mix!)
- Birthday Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies (made w/ yellow cake mix!)
- Cupcakes In Ice Cream Cones (skip Olympic torch instructions and frost!)
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @unsophisticook on Instagram and hashtag it #unsophisticook.
I'd love to see how your Easy Bake Oven refills turn out... Tag me @Unsophisticook on Instagram or use the hashtag #Unsophisticook so I can check it out. Enjoy!
Donna says
do you have a recipe for cookie mixes?
Tara Kuczykowski says
Yes, for cookies you can mix 1/4 cup store-bought cookie mix with 1 teaspoon of water. Form the dough into 6 round patties and bake for 6 minutes.
Chris Goyette says
Do you have Easy Bake Oven recipes for Sugar Cookie mixes and mini muffin mixes ?
I bought regular mixes for my grand daughter's new Easy Bake Over we just got het for her birthday and bought these in addition to the cake mixes you provide recipes from and labels.
Thank you!
Grand Ma
Tara Kuczykowski says
I've never tested the muffin mixes, but I do have recipes for cookies and brownies that I haven't written up in posts yet. Since muffin mix is thicker, if I were to try it, I'd start testing them with the brownie recipe.
COOKIES
Mix 1/4 cup store-bought cookie mix with 1 teaspoon of water. Form the dough into 6 round patties and bake for 6 minutes.
BROWNIES
Mix 1/4 cup store-bought brownie mix with 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of water. Bake for 12 minutes.
Chris Goyette says
How do you subsitute the egg ??
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Chris! It is not necessary to add egg to the mix.
Chris Goyette says
@Tara Kuczykowski,
I bought egg powder substitute, so I guess I can return that since it's obsolete with you recipes?
Thank you
Chris
Tara Kuczykowski says
Yes, if you're not going to use it for anything else, I'd say you can return it!
Christie says
I have read through the comments on here. But did not see one for cookies or pretzel mixes. Did I miss them as my daughter just loves her cookies and pretzels. :-)
Also thank you so so much for making this possible. I love all the different styles of cakes and endless smiles my daughter has when she's playing. (She's 7) she's now planning her valentines day cakes for the family. Lol. Her brother keeps eating them on her. Lmao... Love my kids and this post.
Bless your ❤️
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Christie! Unfortunately, I don't have a pretzel recipe, but I have recipes for cookies and brownies that I just haven't had time to post yet.
COOKIES
Mix 1/4 cup store-bought cookie mix with 1 teaspoon of water. Form the dough into 6 round patties and bake for 6 minutes.
BROWNIES
Mix 1/4 cup store-bought brownie mix with 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of water. Bake for 12 minutes.
sophia says
@Tara Kuczykowski, I have a easy bake oven but I only have cake mix what can I make
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Sophia - you can use your boxed cake mix to make cakes in your Easy Bake Oven using the measurements in this post!
Ali says
I love these recipes and they are great ways to make things in your easy bake oven instead of buy the refill packets that cost usually around 7 - 8 dollars a peice for just 2 cakes. love this lots.
Michele says
I am using the signature cake mix and sifted as directed. I measured out 1/4 cup but I have quite a bit more than 11 bags. What happened?
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Michele! Others have reported the same recently, so I suspect that Duncan Hines may have changed the size of the mixes since I first tested this with my girls. The ratio of 1/4 cup mix to 2 tablespoons of water still works, though - so you just get more for your money!
Annie says
Instead of printing labels for every snack bag- I printed 1, then put all the bags into the box of whichever cake mix I used. :)
Tara Kuczykowski says
Great idea - thanks for sharing!
Susan says
I’ll admit it, I’m 72 years old. I love the title it says here’s your recipes, but I can’t seem to find them. Could you help me out and let me know where I can actually find the recipes. I’m excited about doing this for my granddaughters. Thank you very much Susan.
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Susan! You can either continue scrolling down the page to the recipe card, or you can click the "jump to recipe" link that's right under the title to be taken straight to the recipe.
Kimberly says
Do these work in both the Ultimate Easy Bake (with heating element) and the previous model with the light bulb? My granddaughter is getting an Ultimate wave I don't want to spend her college fund in refills. Thank you!
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Kimberly! We've never owned the older bulb model, so I'm not sure. If they didn't change the mixes when they created the new model, I'd say it should work, but the cook time may be affected. The Ultimate Easy Bake is what we tested this with, so that definitely should be fine.
Ashlee says
Do you pour eat box into their own bowl or all together?
Tara Kuczykowski says
Hi Ashlee! You'll want to measure out each box separately.
Crissy says
We made one cake with water... turned out OK.. but was sticky(not risen)
Second batch we used 2tblspns of milk and it turned out perfect.
Tara Kuczykowski says
Interesting -- can you share which mix you used?
Tia says
Will these come out of the pan without making a huge mess and tearing apart?
Tara Kuczykowski says
If you use the baking spray I mentioned, you shouldn't have any issues with the cake releasing from the pan.