'Is It Cake?' Season 3 Is on the Way at Netflix

At a time when streamers are cutting back in any way they can, Netflix is leaning on the tasty mystery that always keeps viewers coming back for more: Is It Cake? The company announced that it is renewing Is It Cake? for a third season at the end of January, according to a report by Deadline. The new season will include eight new episodes and all kinds of new challenges for contestants, judges and viewers.

Is It Cake? has grown from a viral meme into a Netflix original series hosted by Saturday Night Live star Mikey Day and featuring panels of celebrity guests as well as expert bakers. Contestants are challenged to create a cake that is indiscernible from the real object it resembles – be it a sneaker, an appliance or something even more challenging. Celebrity judges are then challenged to tell the cake apart from the real thing, and if they fail the contestants win cash prizes. At the end of each season, the winners of the previous episodes compete for even bigger prizes, but so far the format has changed quite a bit. Season 3 will reportedly see some more changes as well. 

The new season promises "bigger cakes, higher stakes, and wilder bakes." Considering some of the hyper-realistic cakes that have been showcased already, it's hard to imagine what could be coming. However, The show didn't change too drastically from Season 1 to Season 2. Those installments dropped in March of 2022 and June of 2023, so the gap before Season 3 may be much longer.

The "cake or fake" sensation on social media technically began in 2011, though it did not go viral until at least 2018, and it gained even more traction in 2020. It began on a website called CakeWrecks, which gained some traction on Twitter with a video of a realistic-looking snake that turned out to be a cake. The visceral sight of a knife cutting into something that looked real only to reveal cake and icing within kept users coming back for more.

These kinds of videos held viewers' attention on Twitter and YouTube in the years that followed, but they found a whole new audience with the advent of TikTok. The videos benefited from duets, reaction clips and interest from prominent content creators like Mr. Beast. However, by the time the Netflix original series came around, some viewers wondered how this concept could carry an entire series – especially since so many shocking cakes had already circulated online.

Is It Cake? Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Netflix. Season 3 is on the way, but there's no word on when it might come out. For those dying for more content, there is plenty on social media.