Is it Cake? is a new Netflix series hosted by Mikey Day, where bakers of a variety of different backgrounds come to compete in this bake-off judged by celebrities. These talented bakers are given 8 hours to show off their artistic skills by creating cakes to mimic realistic objects or other food items to fool the judges.  There are 5 items placed on a podium at a distance where fine details are not obvious. Each round consists of three judges, who have 20 seconds to collectively decide which object and/or food item is actually cake. These judges are asked the essential question: Is it cake?

Whoever wins the round, automatically wins $5,000. They have an opportunity to double their winnings by guessing which of the two objects appears to have money flaring from it is cake. If they find the one that is cake, they get to win another $5,000. If not, the earnings balance will remain the same until they have a chance to compete again. Each winner of a round gets to pick two people to compete against in the next round. At the beginning of each new round, the bakers competing will have to participate in a challenge of guessing which object or food item is cake. Whoever guesses correctly the fastest within the 20-second time window they have, gets to choose which item they must mimic for the upcoming judges.

A feature of the show I personally enjoy is the dramatic spin of the cake wall when the host, Mikey Day, is going to present something to the contestants. However, something I don’t personally enjoy is Mikey Day’s jokes (like they’re not funny at all). I feel that there must be a light that flashes behind the scenes that tells the bakers when to laugh because what he says in the show is not worth the deep-belly laughter.

Besides the cringe-worthy jokes, it is so amazing to see such creativity unfold among the bakers and how their approach is making their cakes. There were some intense moments where parts of the cake had fallen apart or modeling chocolate pieces snapping in half minutes before their time was up. I began to feel stressed for them. One of my favorite cakes was Andrew’s cake that was to look like bread. Another was April’s duck cake that looked like a garden gnome, one of the most realistic ones she made and it looked great.

My overall favorite baker was Andrew, he has such an inviting personality. He does such a great job with details and was able to fool the judges each round he competed in. He was an underdog, in the beginning, nobody was choosing him to compete in a challenge. When he was finally chosen, he showed the rest what he was capable of.

I rate this show a 4 out of 5 stars. It was really interesting to see and I couldn’t stop watching. The only reason it’s not getting a 5 out of 5 is because of Mikey Day’s jokes (no shade though). I feel this is a good show to watch with family and friends, or just a show to watch to get your mind off things.