It takes rare talent to not only be able to bake a cake that looks exactly like a Dungeness crab, but actually tastes good, too. But, as viewers of “Is It Cake, Too?” will see in the first episode, that’s exactly the challenge that Beaverton’s Liz Marek sets out for herself.
Marek is one of the bakers competing on the follow-up season to “Is It Cake?” a series featuring expert bakers competing to see who can create cakes that are replicas for ordinary, non-cake items, such as printers, stacks of shirts, gym bags, and more. The first season, which premiered on Netflix in 2022, was a top-10 show for the streamer, according to Variety.
For Marek, whipping up confections that go beyond the ordinary is familiar territory. “I’m a born and raised Oregonian,” says Marek, who grew up in Lebanon. She studied graphic design because, as she says, “My dream was to move to Portland, and be a big-time graphic designer,.”
But she ultimately discovered that “baking and creating cakes was a passion.” So Marek quit her graphic design job, as she recalls, “and I haven’t looked back since.”
Her hobby turned into a profession when, in 2009, Marek started a bakery in Portland, and made custom-designed cakes for clients.
Baking cakes, Marek, 42, says, was “a way for me personally to express my creativity in a very unique way. I started making online tutorials, at the suggestion of my husband, back in 2010. I thought, ‘Whoever would watch videos online?’”
Marek found out plenty of people would, and her tutorials “really changed our whole lives. I was just teaching myself how to be a cake decorator, and I accidentally established myself as someone who knew what they were doing.”
In “Is It Cake, Too?” it’s apparent that Marek’s reputation has preceded her, as fellow competitors say things like, “She’s a walking encyclopedia for cake.”
Marek has written about her cake decorating in the book, “Artisan Cake Company’s Visual Guide to Cake Decorating.” Once she decided to close her Portland bakery, Marek concentrated on teaching, personal appearances, an online cake decorating school called “The Sugar Geek Show,” and the recently launched “Sugar Geek University,” which, for a membership fee, offers courses on cake preparation and decorating options, from wedding cakes to – in true “Is It Cake?” style – cakes that resemble everything from hamburgers to pizza.
Not surprisingly, Marek was a fan of “Is It Cake?” “Not only did I watch the first season of ‘Is It Cake?’ but I was just like a super fan,” she says. “If I loved sports, this must be what it’s like to like sports. I was so obsessed, I was reading bios of the people who competed.”
When she got word she was cast on Season 2, Marek says, “I don’t think I could have been more excited.”
Marek and her fellow cake-bakers filmed the season last year, in Los Angeles. Of the experience, Marek says, “Being on the show, you’re partly excited, and then it also feels surreal.”
Describing host Mikey Day, who is also a “Saturday Night Live” cast member, Marek says, “He’s so nice. He jokes all the time. He’s kind, he’s super sweet, and he gave us all gifts.”
The show’s format calls for contestants to make cakes that are displayed next to the object that inspired them – a yoga mat and water bottle, for example. Celebrity judges such as Joel McHale, Nico Santos and Chloe Fineman are challenged to look at the cake and the real article, and determine which one is cake. If bakers fool the judges, they stand to win prize money and advance to compete for the championship.
As to why there’s been so much interest in hyper-realistic looking cakes, Marek says, “I’m not sure why people like it so much. It’s definitely a phenomenon.”
The task of making cakes look like they’re metal, plastic, fabric, or some other substance that’s anything but fondant is, “for a cake artist like myself, the ultimate challenge,” Marek says. “If I fool you, that’s the best.”
But the competitors on “Is It Cake, Too?” also needed to focus on making their cakes taste good, as that factors into the judging process. “I knew going in that not only did I have to make cakes that would fool the judges, you really had to make sure the taste was on point,” Marek says. “We learned that not all judges’ tastes were the same.”
Though Marek can’t give away any details about how she fares on the show, she says the good-natured competition featured in “Is It Cake?” makes for tasty viewing.
“The thing that I loved about Season 1 is the thing I hope people get out of Season 2,” Marek says. “It’s an opportunity to get together with friends, and family and kids. Kids love this show, and when you watch, you’re actively participating, you get to guess along with the judges.”
As for her plans to watch the June 30 premiere of “Is It Cake, Too?” on Netflix, Marek says, “I was going to watch it with my family, but my neighbors forced me into having a viewing party. We’re going to have some wine, and charcuterie boards — and maybe one of them will be a cake.”
“Is It Cake, Too?” streams eight 45-minute episodes beginning June 30 on Netflix.
— Kristi Turnquist
503-221-8227; kturnquist@oregonian.com; @Kristiturnquist
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