This Is the Only Sneaky Cake I Care About

Over the last week, sneaky cakes — in the shape of a Croc, toilet paper, plants, soap, and other decidedly non-cake-like things — went viral, thanks to a Tasty tweet stating the simple truth, “these are all cakes.” Some were slightly more appetizing, in the shape of foods like coconuts, bananas, pizza, or a mixed grill, but few of the cakes in the nearly four-minute compilation of the work of Turkish baker Tuba Geçkil  had anything more to do with their models than the inedible ones.

Since the clip went viral on July 8, memes galore have popped onto the internet, with other cake or non-cake imitations, from the horrific (chicken breast) to the comedic, like cutting into things around the house to see if they are cake. But jokes aside, the art of trompe l’oeil, for “deceiving the eye,” has long been a part of culinary culture — pavlovas that look like eggs, meringue mushrooms, and other wink-wink types of jokes.

But as a regular visitor to Mexico City and a taco fanatic, there’s a cake that went viral months ago — though on a smaller scale than the Tasty tweet — that I’ve been obsessed with: the pozole cake.

Made by Mexico City bakery Bendito Pastel (blessed cake, which they are), the video shows the making, rather than the destruction of the cake, right down to the typical ceramic bowl, and all the condiments for the hangover-curing hominy soup. She’s also got a quicker version on TikTok. If cakes in the shape of Mexican cuisine are your jam (and they are very much mine), she’s also got pots of corn: Pastel or Esquites — Cake or Corn?  And of course tacos complete the trompo, or rotating spit from which the meat for al pastor is cut, and the tiny slices of pineapple that go with it.

What’s your favorite sneaky cake?