The 15 Most Realistic Cakes On Is It Cake?

The premise for Netflix's "Is It Cake?" is one of the most over-the-top ways we've seen of highlighting a fascinating field and its workers. Typically, this type of competition show is all about showing off the skills of the contestants. That is true for "Is It Cake?," a show where professional bakers must make illusion cakes that fool the judges. With one cake in a sea of decoys, you can test your cake detector against the judges each round.

The end result is messy, fun, and definitely has us shouting at our screen "That's cake, that's cake!" more than we'd like to admit. Now with a second season in the form of "Is It Cake Too?," we've decided it's a great time to reflect on the baker's finest works in the food TV show.

Since the goal on "Is It Cake?" is for the contestants to create cakes that look as realistic as possible in the time limit, we think it makes sense to highlight the 15 best. For this list, we aren't counting any of the cakes featured in the episode intro or the Cake or Cash round. Those are created over the course of days, and not the handful of hours the bakers have to work with on the show. These are some of the most impressive cakes we've seen, but in fairness to the contestants, we are going to celebrate what these cake wizards whipped up in competition.

There would go on to be a number of shoes that impressed us across both seasons of the Netflix series, but this one was the first. In Season 1 Episode 2 of "Is It Cake?," contestant April Julian blew the competition away with her realistic cake depicting an everyday object. Julian's shoe cake not only fooled the judges, it puzzled us too when we first watched the episode and upon rewatch a year later. This shoe is one of the most convincing fakes (or is it cakes?) in the first season. The first time that host Mikey Day cut into this shoe, we truly were shocked to find that it was cake.

This black and white tennis shoe cake was unmistakable from a real sneaker when shown to the judges, so much so that each one had a different wrong answer. Up close you can see the fine details are cake-like, but from even a short distance the way Julain's fondant work mimics shoe leather and material is impressive and worth praising.

Louisiana native Nina Charles didn't wind up winning "Is It Cake?" but she did make one of the most excellent cakes of Season 1. In Episode 5, the baker whipped up a realistic-looking bowl of chips and it ended up being her finest creation in the Netflix series.

This cake was another case of food disguising itself as another food in plain sight. When it was complete, it fooled the judges... completely. This is an especially impressive bake considering Chef Charles had to replicate two distinct items — the chips and the bowl itself. Most of the cake is contained within a bowl made of fondant. But the real hard work was done to give the "chips" the illusion of texture. Those things looked crispy. This is why when Mikey Day cuts into the cake, it's not just a visual marvel but an aural one too, since you don't hear a crunch when your brain is telling you that you definitely should.

Just because a cake fools the judges on "Is It Cake?" doesn't necessarily mean it's the most realistic of the episode. Conversely, sometimes even the most amazing cakes get guessed by the panel due to sheer luck. This was the case when it came to Hemu Basu's stone sculpture in the first season's final showdown. It might not have won the round (and trust us the cake that did was a mighty achievement as well), but this sculpture was a feat of detail and time management that no other baker achieved until the next season's finale.

For her finale cake in Episode 8, Basu took on the herculean task of building a stone bust out of cake. This sculpture features the face of a woman from the chest up, and it sits upon a pedestal that is also — you guessed it — made of cake. The way this cake ended up imitating stone was just as stunning, if not more, than Basu's elephant. And in terms of detail, she truly went above and beyond. Even if she went home, Hemu is still a winner in our hearts.

No, not that kind of crab cake. This uber realistic cake from industry veteran and viral cake creator Liz Marek was the highlight of Episode 1 Season 1 of "Is It Cake, Too?" Not only did she somehow create a dessert in the shape of a crab, but Marek perfectly replicated the visual look of a crab's shell. The outside layer of the cake was colored and textured in just the right way that the judges never even stood a chance. That's right, this crab cake fooled them and allowed its baker to breeze on to the next episode.

While Marek went home after only three episodes of "Is It Cake Too?," she is recognized by her peers as one of the best in the realistic cake-baking game. This is evidenced by both of the creations she brought to life in her short time baking, but with this crab cake she made in Episode 1 she came out swinging.

Before Episode 4 of "Is It Cake Too?," British-born Texas baker Elizabeth Rowe was a dark horse contender in the wake of the other Liz. But it wasn't until we got to see Rowe work her magic with this boot that we really understood just how much of a force we were dealing with. Rowe's near-perfect replica of a Doc Marten in cake form blew the competition out of the water in this '90s throwback-inspired episode.

While a boot is not the most complicated shape, it is the pure detail the baker put into this cake that managed to make it land. This is the best fake (cake) leather we've seen on the show so far. Each little element was in place and had just the right look to it to make it indistinguishable from the other Docs on the podium. And yes, the judges really couldn't figure it out. Now that's just the icing on the cake.

You really got to give it up for Miko Kaw Hok Uy, the Filipino-born baker who went on to be runner-up in the second season of "Is It Cake?" Not only did he bring a refreshing and positive energy to the competition, but he also made some darn impressive cakes. Take, for instance, the salt rock lamp cake that had us — and the panel of judges — completely hoodwinked. We still can't believe sugar can do that.

In Episode 6 of "Is It Cake Too?" the chef takes on the task of recreating a working Himalayan salt rock lamp in the form of a cake. While he crafted a cake to perfectly mimic the base of the lamp, what was most impressive was the baker's sugar work. He created a near-flawless copy of the decoy salt lamps carved out of rock sugar.

This cake was the first sign of just how far his creative ambition would reach. Miko Kaw Hok Uy would go on to truly prove himself as an "Is It Cake" legend in the finale.

The other softball-inspired cake of Episode 7 came from none other than Season 2 champion Elizabeth Rowe. And unlike Danya Smith's cleat, the judges could not tell the difference between Rowe's incredible cake handiwork and actual softball equipment.

Once again, the baker who delivered a photorealistic boot showed off her skills for making cakes look realistic in terms of texture and color. While many of the cakes on the show don't hold up when you get the zoomed-in view, this softball and glove cake duo was uncanny from the time it appeared on the podium until after it was split open by the host's knife.

The "stitch queen" showed up in spectacular form for this semi-final bake. Rowe doubled down on her talents by making immaculate stitching details on both the glove and the ball. The work done here on two entirely different-looking cakes was remarkable, to say the least. All hail Queen Elizabeth.