When it comes to binge-watching, Netflix's latest gameshow addition makes me want to binge-eat too! That's because Is It Cake, Too? – the savvily titled sequel to 2022's runaway success Is It Cake – landed on the streaming platform just in time for July. Yes, it's the return of the gameshow where contestants create everyday objects out of cake – the goal being to fool the judging panel.
I know it's now midway into July as I write this, but I've been slowly munching my way through the show's sweet, sweet treats as the series has somehow trickled out of the Netflix top 10 before my very eyes. I've been lucky enough to watch it all on one of the best OLED TVs, too, the LG C3 – which just makes everything look better.
So if you've missed this gameshow sequel and want to be in for a hoot – you needn't even care about cake too much to be honest – then here are three things I adore about Netflix's Is It Cake, Too? that I think make it worth streaming for everyone. Or do a total about-turn and watch my colleague's Favourite Action Movie in Years instead if you're in a whole other kind of mood...
1. Find That Cake!
The original series of Is It Cake had plenty of sponges that you'd struggle to recognise as actual cake, which was the main joy of the whole show. The sequel ramps things up a bit, though, by introducing each episode to a 'room' where an item of number of items are made of cake – it's up to the contestants to pick which they think are the sugary culprits.
What's great about this is that you, too, will be darting your eyes around screen trying to figure out which dang thing is the cake. Modelling chocolate, icing sheet print-outs and other tricks make it harder than you might think – as does the camerawork sometimes. But it's all part of the fun.
Those contestants who choose correctly, and quickest, are the first to then go bake, where they have to create a cake in relation to that episode's theme. I won't give away how far contestants get, who they are, nor the themes – as that's all part of the fun in watching the show unfold like a delicious roulade. But I will give one little insight: what about that orchid in the picture above; surely it can't be cake?
2. I can't always tell!
Part of the beauty of Is It Cake and Is It Cake, Too? is that these participating bakers are incredibly talented artists. They can create everyday objects out of cake that look convincingly real (most of the time anyway – certainly from a given distance). It's had me shouting at the TV in uncertainty (and sometimes just sheer rage).
And sometimes, just sometimes, they totally fool me. If you don't watch every scene in detail and drift away from your binge-watching experience then you might miss some details that could signify which is cake and which is not. Take the crab above, is that cake? Watch the show and find out – you'll be shouting at the TV screen just like me, honest!
If Is It Cake, Too? jumped the shark and got a bunch of celebrities or amateurs onto the show then, well, it'd lose the glue that holds it all together: this is no joke, these are talented bakers and food artists who know exactly what they're doing. So when it all goes wrong it makes it all the more entertaining...
3. Mikey Day, obviously!
I say it's no joke, but there's one definite joker: Is It Cake, Too?'s host, Mikey Day. As a watcher with an English temperament I did at first find his outward expressive ways to be a bit too American gameshow host for my tastes – but then his charms broke through and I can 100 per cent see why he's a total part of the Is It Cake fabric (or should that be fondant?).
The host is known as a comedian, writer and actor, too, all of which totally fit the bill just as well as his on-screen suits fit his figure. He's well-dressed yet zany, and watching him wander around with a giant knife chopping up various cakes (and non-cakes) is one of 2023's simple pleasures.
Without Mikey Day I don't feel like the Is It Cake franchise would continue in the same way. So long may he stay, because after this series' success, surely we're in store for a third instalment for 2024 already? C'mon Netflix, don't cancel any more shows (here are all the axings in 2023 so far). So enjoy this sweet treat whilst it lasts and get streaming y'all!
