Is It Cake? How Our Brain Deciphers Materials
One of the greatest questions of the modern age is: Is it cake? As in: Is it an espresso machine, or cake? Paint can, or cake? Air fryer, or …? Millions of viewers have watched rapt as TikTok bakers slice or bite into inedible-looking objects with fluffy, frosting-filled innards … or have tuned into Is It Cake?, the aptly named Netflix show. Why? As a form of entertainment, this kind of visual trick is hardly new. For centuries, artists have delighted in fooling us into thinking one material is