Netflix's Bizarre New Baking Show Is It Cake? Was Inspired By A Viral Meme
If Netflix's new baking show looks a bit familiar, it's probably because you've seen the memes it was based on. In "Is it Cake?" talented cake decorators from all over the world compete to create hyper-realistic cakes made to look like, well, anything but actual cake — a concept pulled straight from social media, according to People.
Whether transforming a cake into a bowling ball or a hamburger, contestants are challenged to stump a celebrity panel of judges with the question, "Is it cake?" As you'll see in the show's trailer, the answer is dramatically revealed when host and "Saturday Night Live" cast member Mikey Day makes a much-anticipated cut into the alleged cake. The baker that's able to successfully deceive the judging panel after several rounds of cakes goes on to win a grand prize of $50,000.
"Is It Cake?" premiers on Netflix March 18, but in the meantime, there are plenty of hyper-realistic cakes to test yourself on if you just scroll through Instagram.
How did the 'Is It Cake?' meme start?
As Buddy Valastro of "Cake Boss" fame will tell you, cakes that look like everyday objects are nothing new. However, cakes that make you do a double take with how close to the real thing they are was a trend popularized in the summer of 2020.
As Esquire explains, this first took off when BuzzFeed's Tasty shared a video on Twitter featuring a compilation of cakes made by Turkish baker Tuba Geçkìl. The footage, taken from Geçkìl's various Instagram posts, showcases what appears to be random objects, including a bottle of lotion and a roll of toilet paper, that are then revealed to be cake once she takes a knife to them.
After the video went viral, people were inspired to try their hand at these realistic cakes, and even non-bakers hopped on the trend, cutting into objects that were obviously not cake. Thus, the "Is It Cake?" meme was born, and has evidently become popular enough to turn into a Netflix show.